Eager/Earnest Expectation...

Psalm 139:5

You hem me in behind and before;

You have laid Your hand upon me.

Psalm 34:7

The angel of the LORD encamps around those who fear Him,

and he delivers them.

Psalm 125:2

As the mountains surround Jerusalem,

so the LORD surrounds His people, both now and forevermore.

The gleaming scepter of new day stretches across the land...

A symbol of God’s sovereignty;

Beauty survives/thrives...

The gleaming scepter of new day stretches across the land

A symbol of God’s sovereignty; all beneath His command

Beauty survives where destruction and death’s heartache abounds

Above trouble and rebellion, God’s faithfulness resounds

Where ’blessed are the meek for they will inherit the earth’

Then turn the other cheek and speak of He who gives life worth

Do not despair; it is not cares that hem us in but He

Who works for our good, who watches over you and me

Such knowledge is too wonderful for mortal to attain

Nothing can separate us from God’s sovereign love, amen

Creation's gilt-edged grandeur grants a glimpse of what yet waits

On highways not yet paved with gold, on this side of Hope's Gates 

Where what we bear is temporal; the cross precedes the crown

The test precedes the triumph; when we lay our burdens down

When prayer no longer wends its way from man to Mercy's Door

When sorrow's wounds and broken hearts are healed forevermore 

When what faith cannot understand or comprehend unveils

The glory of God's face, His hands scarred with imprints of nails

When our present suffering will ever fade away

Creation waits in eager/earnest expectation for that day

© Janet Martin

Rom.8:18-19

*I consider that our present sufferings 

are not comparable to the glory that will be revealed in us.

 19The creation waits in eager expectation for

 the revelation of the sons of God. 

Yester-dusk...

Creation's gilt-edged grandeur grants a glimpse of what yet waits

On highways not yet paved with gold, on this side of Hope's Gates 

So Rather Than Lament...

Happy 58th Birthday, Jim!

(I asked him what it looks like where he is celebrating his birthday

so he sent me these sweet shots of upstate New York!)

(for non-regular visitors, he is a truck-driver)

...and since my birthday always follows a week later 

this wry look at getting older is for both of us😅💕😘

Like miles beneath your eighteen wheels the years just peel away

Sometimes it feels as if time steals a month, a week, a day

But it is futile to object or try to rearrange

This thing that nobody as yet has found a way to change

So rather than lament the swift, deft exodus of years

Let’s make the most of what is left before it disappears

…like laughing at ourselves when what once functioned starts to slip

Like dancing like we still have swagger in our one good hip

Like learning how to shuffle when our ‘gid-up’ starts to stall

While wishing for a port-a-potty halfway down the hall

And when one younger wonders at the blunders we engage

We now can laugh and blame our gaffes on good old, good old age

When the forgetter performs better than Remember does

When we become the crowd that prefers Life The Way It Was

When favor and frustration wage a telling tug of war

Futile to try to act like we are only twenty-four

So rather than lament the weathered cover of our youth

Let’s make the most of huff and puff and just admit the truth

Yes, sometimes getting up requires extra grunts and groans

The marathons we run are fetes of grand, mental milestones 

And the face in the mirror, we don’t recognize as ‘me’

Must be a rascal playing tricks on fine-tuned faculty😂

My goodness! Time’s surprises sometimes make me shake my head

The highlight of the day is when its time to go to bed

© Janet Martin

Here's to many more 'surprises' by the grace of God!

The Strength of Hope's Expectancy...

May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him,

so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.

Romans 15:13

Tragedy tests trust!

Oh God, help us to trust You 

and not lean on our own understanding!

Help us to search out Your promises

so when trouble comes 

we can draw from the well of hope's strength!

The Cleft of  the Rock

The strength of hope’s expectancy does not maintain itself

Nor grows in grace and truth from Bibles closed upon a shelf

To find, we cannot cease to seek; what we love we pursue

(Forbid a form of godliness becomes our go-to)

The veil is rent; forbid we never pause to enter in

To the holy of holies to name and confess our sin

Forbid we never name the Name of He who paid sin’s price

Nor offer our bodies as a living sacrifice

If the joy of the Lord is our strength, oh, pray we cease

To wander from His promises in search of perfect peace

But rather may the Holy Spirit stir our hearts to brim

With hope and joy and peace as we place our trust in Him

The strength of Hope’s expectancy is no coincidence

No mortal moxie can sustain what only faith augments

Our Father who art in Heaven, hallowed be Thy name

Forbid we fail Thy righteousness and goodness to proclaim

…or, that a form of godliness denies the power thereof

And we live as if what the cross offers is not enough

Our Father who art in Heaven, convict us so we

Repent, lest sin impairs the strength of hope’s expectancy

© Janet Martin

Darling May, Farewell

In Ontario, May goes from bare...

...to burgeoning with bloom

from warm hats and coats ...

...to sundresses and splash-pads

(May 31)

...and last but not least

from no baby to

sweet, sweet baby boy

( 14 hours old)

(never mind the baby! 'what's that, mommy?!'

Concerned Big Brother wants to know😊💖)

Almost 3 weeks old

Farewell, (almost) most beloved month of all!!

To release you is akin to farewell’s final embrace

A sense of fallen blossom-stars wafting in outer space

This reluctant relinquishment of what no one can keep

Always makes me regret the fact that sometimes we must sleep

…while buds begin to bulge then burst because they cannot stay

The Miracle waiting to steal our baited breath away

While isle upon isle undergoes, with sunny zephyr-kiss

A steady and unprejudicial metamorphosis

To let you go is always bittersweet, my love, because

You never leave the world as stark and sullen as it was

Beneath your touch creation thrives, sparse shadow-filigree

Grows deep and dark…a picnic blanket tossed beneath each tree

Expectancy and wonder, like silence and thunder meld

The earth is like a canvas with no verdant hue withheld

Where we all become dancers in spirit if not footloose

In a ballroom refurbished with a fresh coat of chartreuse

Each furrow is replenished with seed-sized symbols of trust

While we are wildly torn between duty and wanderlust

Because something about the way you arrange green and blue

Makes us want to experience every angle of you

Forgive me if I linger with my arms around your scent

For my thought aches with echoes; mementos of love well-spent

And I could not bear to let go, darling May afternoon

But for the impending hello of darling, darling June

© Janet Martin

Flower-Fountain of Joy

Praise God from whom all flowers flow;

from whom all bloom-bells peal...

From woodland founts and garden-dirt gushes earth’s lushest green

The miracle of birth restores vistas where death had been

We who are captured by the woo where beauty’s fountain brims

Are overcome with joy renewed by age-old petal-hymns

A gala fit for kings and queens unfolds before our gaze

Inviting beggars to partake of lily-laden trays

We do. With hearts agape with praise for nature’s flower-fount

As joy marvels at masterpieces too profuse to count

Praise God from whom all flowers flow; from whom all bloom-bells peal

He threads bud-looms with periwinkle, rose, Solomon’s seal

The beauty of creation from unnumbered fountains spills

Joy bows in adoration to the One who clothes the hills

The tall grass sways and plays a shimmer-soft arpeggio

How long we waited for the lays of wispy ebb and flow

For curlicues of rainbow hues from umber vaults of sod

Joy knows no bounds but turns into exaltation to God

© Janet Martin

The tall grass sways and plays a shimmer-soft arpeggio...

Matt.6:27-34

And which of you by being anxious can add one cubit unto [a]the measure of his life?

28 And why are ye anxious concerning raiment?

Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow;

they toil not, neither do they spin: 29 yet I say unto you,

that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.

30 But if God doth so clothe the grass of the field, which to-day is,

and to-morrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you,

O ye of little faith?

31 Be not therefore anxious, saying, What shall we eat?

or, What shall we drink?

or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed?

32 For after all these things do the Gentiles seek;

for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things.

33 But seek ye first his kingdom, and his righteousness;

and all these things shall be added unto you.

34 Be not therefore anxious for the morrow:

for the morrow will be anxious for itself.

Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.

Heaven-bent...

 

Not so enlightened, as to be

Careless with hope’s security

Not so engrossed in earthliness  

I do not prize faith's promises

Not so prosperous I forget

The hungry poor who have no bread

Not so successful as to slide

Into subtle pitfalls of pride

Not so consumed with avarice 

I snub salvation's purchase-price

Not so ingenious I ignore

The One who said ‘I am the Door’

Not so comfortable that I

Am loathe to bid this world good-bye

Not so intent on things below

I have no heaven-wealth to show

No living proof, by quiet deed

Of compassion for those in need

No legacy of self outpoured

As evidence of Christ as Lord

No desire to be poor enough

To treasure most His grace and love

And count all worldly gain as loss

To marvel daily at the cross

To keep in mind, earth's lease is lent

And live each moment, heaven-bent  

© Janet Martin

Therefore, since you have been raised with Christ, 

strive for the things above, 

where Christ is seated at the right hand of God.

 2Set your minds on things above,

 not on earthly things. 

Col.3:1-2

Where Your Treasure Is

Immaculate Impressions

Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, 

as though God were making an appeal through us; 

we beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. 

21 He made Him who knew no sin to be [j]sin in our behalf, 

so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.

2 Cor.5:20-21

The Anchor of hope’s diligence nods and the heavens laugh

With mercy’s renewed evidence in daybreak’s autograph

We, as ambassadors for He, whose pardon reconciles

If clothed in Christ's humility, will recognize God’s smiles

Morning’s podium broods with beckoning to human race

Come, taste and see the goodness and compassion of His grace

We as ambassadors for He whose kindness perseveres

If tuned to Christ's tenacity, will recognize God’s tears

Trouble’s relentless ways and means resumes its Dreaded Must

Temptation’s primal hunger keens needles threaded with dust/trust

We, as ambassadors for He in whose Word we rejoice

If yielded to Christ's Sovereignty, will recognize God’s voice

The Giver of love’s grin and groan reignites heaven’s wick

Where stumbling block and stepping stone cuts courage to the quick

We, as ambassadors for He who is First in Command

If armed with Christ's security, will recognize God’s Hand

© Janet Martin

A good gardening day seems to be unfolding!

An opportunity to do the late-season planting.

Thank-you, Lord!

Pondering Anew

While the bud bursts into blossom

In winter’s green aftermath...

After all the rain yesterday earth is a-glimmer with every shade of green imaginable!!

Praise To The Lord, The Almighty (A Cappella)

In spite of being hammered by last week's storm

David was still able to release this song this morning!

A beauty!

It reminded me once again  instead of

slipping into the trap of trying to bear my cares alone

I need to 'ponder anew what the Almighty can do!'

(lyrics to the hymn below)

Psalm 126:3

The LORD has done great things for us; 

We are joyful.

Pondering anew God’s glory

Creator of heav’n and earth

Author of love’s greatest story

Of redemption and rebirth

Pondering His mercy, awesome

Compassion withholds His wrath

While the bud bursts into blossom

In winter’s green aftermath

Pondering anew His kindness

Providing hope for the soul

Where sight alone leads to blindness

Where faith alone makes us whole

Pondering anew His goodness

Would that I would not forget

To trust Him and not the fruitless

-ness of worry and regret

Pondering anew His wonder

Beyond comprehension’s claim

Where the earth and heavens thunder

With the grandeur of his Name

Pondering anew His faithful

Promises that will not fail

Makes me, wholly, humbly grateful

For the blood that rent the veil

Pondering anew God’s power

Architect of galaxies

Garners glimpses in each flower

Of divine intricacies

Pondering anew, salvation

Wrought through Jesus, God’s own Son

Renews humble dedication 

For the race His grace has won 

Pondering anew, Redemption

And the horrors He endured

Draws my wander-prone attention

To the joy the cross secured

© Janet Martin

Joel 2:21
Do not be afraid, O land; rejoice and be glad, 

for the LORD has done great things.

Praise to the Lord! the Almighty, the King of creation!

Author: Joachim Neander (1680);

  Translator: Catherine Winkworth (1863)

1 Praise to the Lord, the Almighty, the King of creation!

O my soul, praise him, for he is your health and salvation!

Come, all who hear; now to his temple draw near,

join me in glad adoration.

2 Praise to the Lord, above all things so wondrously reigning;

sheltering you under his wings, and so gently sustaining!

Have you not seen all that is needful has been

sent by his gracious ordaining?

3 Praise to the Lord, who will prosper your work and defend you;

surely his goodness and mercy shall daily attend you.

Ponder anew what the Almighty can do,

if with his love he befriends you.

4 Praise to the Lord! O let all that is in me adore him!

All that has life and breath, come now with praises before him.

Let the Amen sound from his people again;

gladly forever adore him.