The Glorious Goal

The glorious gift of a new day gleams!

What is our goal?

The scripture in today's Daily Bread devotion

helped to inspire today's poem...

2 Cor.5:6-10

So we are always confident, knowing that 

while we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord. 

7 For we walk by faith, not by sight. 

8 We are confident, yes, well pleased rather to be absent from the body 

and to be present with the Lord.

9 Therefore we make it our aim, whether present or absent, 

to be well pleasing to Him. 

10 For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, 

that each one may receive the things done in the body, 

according to what he has done, whether good or bad.

Repeating a portion of Scripture from Monday's post

What will our life collage, as we reach the goal,

 look like as it is analyzed frame by frame?

Will it be, by the grace of God a testimony of loving service to Him

or will it be, to our shame a futile fling of Self-serving?

Below a collage of a week or two of only a glint of moments...

The glorious goal of pleasing God makes every day full worth its while

Where souls that brim with hymnal laud, and walk by faith though sights beguile

And tune the heart and mind with kindness even when things may go wrong

Will find within the common grind of love and life, a happy song

The glorious goal of pleasing God fills every hour with intent

To serve Him with feet gospel shod, and worship’s awestruck wonderment

That God so loved the world He gave His Son to take my/our rightful place

Upon the cross; He died to save us not by works but by His grace

The glorious goal of pleasing God seems far too small a price to pay

As we behold the thwarted rod where death and hell are done away

For all who repent and believe; no longer victims of sin’s curse

But who, through faith alone receive redemption none can reimburse

Then, with heart and soul, humbly awed, pray we aspire to obey

And make the goal of pleasing God, our true desire every day

For someday we will all appear before His holy judgement seat

To give account of our life here; flight to the glorious goal complete

© Janet Martin

Signs of the Times (or signs of September)

Turning a blind eye to signs does not alter the truth!

Gen.9:13-17

And God said, “This is the sign of the covenant I am making between me 

and you and every living creature with you, a covenant for all generations to come:  

I have set my rainbow in the clouds, 

and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and the earth.  

Whenever I bring clouds over the earth and the rainbow appears in the clouds, 

I will remember my covenant between me and you and all living creatures of every kind. 

Never again will the waters become a flood to destroy all life.  

Whenever the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will see it 

and remember the everlasting covenant between God 

and all living creatures of every kind on the earth.”

So God said to Noah, “This is the sign of the covenant I have established 

between me and all life on the earth.”

2 Tim.3:1-5

But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days.  

People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, 

disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy,  without love, 

unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good,

  treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God— 

 having a form of godliness but denying its power. 

Have nothing to do with such people.

When we see signs it alerts us to whatever the sign is drawing our attention to!

From streets to businesses to for sale signs to events etc.

From flashy billboards to modest handmade creations!

But one thing is imperative for a 'successful' sign. 

It must be easy to read!

Daybreak's sign is always easy to see...the fading dark!

...and for better or worse signs of summer fading are becoming more evident

Signs of September start to unsettle August’s veneer

An air of fond farewell drapes summer’s beaming belvedere

In hues of misty mint and blues begins the tug of war

That draws us to conclusions we can no longer ignore

Signs of August’s slipping foothold bids us to slow our feet

And linger in the plum and gold aura of Bittersweet

Awareness of what all too swift and surely will become

An echo-dazzled wonderland of summer’s soldered sum

While gardens groan with goodness, while man and earth sheds fair youth

Where ignorance and purposed blindness cannot alter truth

Where all around us signs of seasons spin and sweep and surge

A vexing kind of vortex as the past and future merge

Signs of September sparkle in the eye of Father Time

It kindles as it swindles, a nostalgic pantomime

Of June, July and August’s darling days that soon depart

Like a harvest of diamonds tucked somewhere deep in the heart

© Janet Martin

The signs of the times are blaring!

Are we paying attention?

Matthew 24 teaches us the signs to watch for as the day of

the return of Christ draws near

Matthew 24:9-13

Then you will be handed over to be persecuted and put to death, 

and you will be hated by all nations because of me. 

 At that time many will turn away from the faith and will betray and hate each other,

 and many false prophets will appear and deceive many people. 

 Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold, 

 but the one who stands firm to the end will be saved. 

 And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world

 as a testimony to all nations, 

and then the end will come.

Matthew Twenty-four (is knocking at the door)

Johnny Cash

 

Matthew 24 Kitty Wells

 

Matt.24:42-44

Watch therefore, for you do not know what [g]hour your Lord is coming. 

 But know this, that if the master of the house had known what [h]hour the thief would come,

 he would have watched and not allowed his house to be broken into. 

 Therefore you also be ready, 

for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.

Never Very Far Apart (A birthday poem)

I couldn't go to bed without posting a birthday post for Melissa!

Happy Birthday, Melissa!

(I sneaked this photo last month when you were home😊💝)

 

Beyond the reach of candle-spangled birthday cake and such

Beyond the years when you were always never far from touch

Beyond the age of goodnight hugs, soft as a teddy bear

But never out of love’s fond reach oft turned into a prayer

Beyond the days when dreams lived in a world with little girls

Oblivious to the momentous stream tick-tock unfurls

Beyond the carefree leap that lands in life, now full of cares

But never, ever, daughter dear, beyond your mother’s prayers

Never beyond the reach of He who leads, guides and protects

Never beyond the grace of He who forgives and forgets

Never beyond the ear of He who hears us when we pray

And never beyond the love of God each and every day

Beyond the reach of hugs, perhaps, but not the wish, my dear

For God to bless you both today and in the coming year

Never beyond love's happiness of 'never far apart'

Because it takes far more than miles to keep you from my heart

Love, mom aka

© Janet Martin

Hoping to celebrate in person (with cake) in a few weeks!

Enjoy New York!

3 John 4

I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth.

A glimpse of 'around home' on Mel's birthday!

(although we often chuckle at Granddaughter- a mini-Mel)

Does this bring back memories?!!

Corn day!

Best friends...

...before little sister whacked big brother

 

And a double rainbow around supper time!

I was tempted to look for the pot of gold!

And a shower of sun-sparkles!

Death's Grave Inevitable

 

2 Cor.5:9-10

Therefore we make it our aim, whether present or absent,

to be well pleasing to Him.

For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ,

that each one may receive the things done in the body,

according to what he has done, whether good or bad.

Death and Dying-Alistair Begg

Death can spring like a hidden trap; eternity unfurled

Without warning; light or darkness the soul’s forever-world

No in-between; one of two destinies, Heaven or hell

Waits at the Gates of Final Breath’s Grave Inevitable

Where we will all appear before the judgement seat of Christ

To receive just reward for deeds just as He has promised

Where time will roll up like a scroll, when God at last is seen

As Death’s Grave Inevitable rends the frail veil between

So, pray that we aspire to please Him, first and foremost

To make the God of our salvation our utter boast

Because He loves us so and has conquered Death so that we

At its Grave Inevitable will taste its victory

Death can spring like a hidden trap; eternity unfurled

Without warning it flings ajar the soul’s forever-world

Today we choose one of two destinies; Heaven or hell

Waits at the Gates of Final Breath’s Grave Inevitable

© Janet Martin

To Cling, Rather Than Understand

If we relied only on what we understood we would all be atheists!🙏

Prov.3:5-7

Trust in the Lord with all your heart,

And lean not on your own understanding;

In all your ways acknowledge Him,

And He shall [b]direct your paths.

Do not be wise in your own eyes;

Fear the Lord and depart from evil.

Deuteronomy 13:4

You shall follow the Lord your God and fear Him;

and you shall keep His commandments,

listen to His voice, serve Him, and cling to Him.

Psalm 63:7-8

For You are my help;

I will sing for joy in the shadow of Your wings.

My soul clings to You;

Your right hand upholds me.

Isa.41:10

“Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God;

 I will strengthen you, I will help you, 

I will uphold you with my righteous right hand”

What waits we cannot tell. Lord, all that we would ask

Is for Your Spirit to compel and fit us for love’s task

To run with hope, no, fly! To rise on eagle’s wings

And bid humility reply while to Thy law hope clings

To find our rightful place within your counsel true

And to commit this day of grace and what it brings, to You

To repent of pride’s sin and yield our will and want

To You, rather than flounder in a world of futile taunt

To trust in You; not lean on sight-impeded ken

But to cling to what is Unseen, forevermore, amen

Then, with pure joy to know the peace Your love imparts

Your right hand on our shoulders and your Word within our hearts

What waits to try and test we do not know or see

But to cling to Your Promises seals our victory

To know, at your right hand are pleasures evermore

To cling, rather than understand, oh Lord, thus we implore 

Amen

© Janet Martin

Isa.40:30-31

Even youths grow tired and weary,

and young men stumble and fall.

But those who wait upon the LORD will renew their strength;

they will mount up with wings like eagles;

they will run and not grow weary,

they will walk and not faint.

Psalm 16:11

You will show me the path of life; 

In Your presence is fullness of joy;

 At Your right hand are pleasures forevermore.

Cling To Christ

 

Judge of the Secrets of the Hearts of Men

Blink-Ink or Weight/Gate of Imminence

This poem wanted to keep rolling, like waves toward a shore

because often we blink; and what once was will be no more

Where Time's persistent tolling is a very fine-tuned gong

and no one knows how near or far we are to its So Long...

Today a grieving family is laying their precious nine-year old boy to rest🙏💔

What we think would have been Best must rest in the hands

of the Giver and Taker of life/time; Blessed be the name of the Lord.

It drives deep in the heart once more

this sacred reality poured from Job's lips in ancient days...

And he said: “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, 

And naked shall I return there.

The LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away;

Blessed be the name of the LORD.”

Job 1:21

Not one of us knows how soon what we have been given will be taken!

or when our book of life will be eternally bound as its last thread is severed.

Let's not take blink-ink for granted.

We blink it seems and night burns pink along earth’s eastward edge

The brink of a new day turns molten gold with mercy’s pledge

Unfurling, like an ocean we can sense but cannot see

Time’s weight of imminence rushing shores of eternity

…where tears, so many tears convey depths of both joy and grief

Of longing and fulfillment, apprehension and relief

Where years like a four-season barge traverse Time’s surf of air

And where no care or charge is too large to fit into prayer

Where oft the unexpected perplexes dreams dearly held

God’s patient purpose vexes man as Plan’s framework is felled

Where Time never stands still but forges on, through high and low

Where break of day soon spills into dusk’s gorgeous afterglow

…and then, we blink; the east burns pink, star-dazzle disappears

The brink of yesterday linked to the gray of yester-years

The green of youth at the mercy of truth’s unflinching stride

Its uncouth education borne on morn-to-morning tide

And nobody is exempt from forums of Much to Learn

We blink; and feast upon leased crumbs of summer’s sudden turn

While thoroughfares beyond our touch hinge to a new threshold

We blink; already dawn has shed its blush of pink and gold…

Where we (all poets in a sense) splash through ink-wells refilled

We rush the gates of imminence with ways and means, God-willed

Where verse on verse, we bless or curse, filled page soon strewn behind

Where blink on blink the ink dries in a book that God will bind

© Janet Martin

The Sands of Time are Sinking

The Book of This or Why Do You Have to Hurry So?

 

Why do you have to run and dance where green of youth is fleet

And dare the dust of innocence with eager, restless feet

Why do you rush my dear, beyond brushstrokes of Now and Here

Through sun sparkles on summer’s pond, you leap from childhood’s pier

Why do you have to tug at strings attached to hearts of They

More attuned to fine-feathered wings straining to fly away

Quite near enough, my lovely child, are morrow’s misted swells

Driving starry-eyed darlings wild with dreamland’s dinner bells

Why do you have to hurry so from worlds of girls and boys

You poise upon the ebb and flow of childhood’s carefree joys

Without a second thought of what will soon be borne away

While you are busy straining at a Big World held at bay

A feast of tears and laughter scatters while you grow and grow

A heaven-ness of happy chatter smiles, but you don’t know

That you are splashing through the brook of life’s most buoyant bliss

Why do you have to hurry so to close The Book of This?

...a cartwheel made of stardust and love's countless hugs and prayers

A petal-vault of wanderlust soon turned to creature cares

A gift we cannot treasure to the full of its extent

Until its outpoured measure makes us wonder where it went

© Janet Martin

Inspired in part by a girl who remarked yesterday

that she is not going to be a child forever!💖😘

 

 

Have Pity on Us, Father

He remembers that we are dust.

 As for man, his days are like grass;

As a flower of the field, so he flourishes.

 For the wind passes over it, and it is [b]gone,

And its place remembers it no more...

Soon all this flourishing flower and field will disappear...

and the plant with all its beauty and vitality will be as it never was!

So too it will be with our bodies, but never the Soul!

Psalm 103:13-18 (NKJV)

As a father pities his children,

So the Lord pities those who fear Him.

14 For He [a]knows our frame;

He remembers that we are dust.

15 As for man, his days are like grass;

As a flower of the field, so he flourishes.

16 For the wind passes over it, and it is [b]gone,

And its place remembers it no more.

17 But the mercy of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting

On those who fear Him,

And His righteousness to children’s children,

18 To such as keep His covenant,

And to those who remember His commandments to do them.

So much sorrow in this broken world to

author anguished cries to our Heavenly Daddy...

who remembers we are dust💔

Have pity on us, Daddy

(Thou knowest we are dust)

When we cry to Thee, ‘Abba’

Restore, renew our trust

In Thee, for Thou art able

To do what man cannot

Instill in us a table

Laden with feasts, joy-wrought

For even in our groaning

The joy of Thee abides

Through faith in the atoning

That Calvary provides

The hope of our salvation

Transcends life’s bitter blows

The thorn of tribulation

Cannot defeat The Rose

Thy mercies are eternal

Our numbered days of bloom

May draw from springs supernal

Carved in an empty tomb

Thus, though our frame will perish

As flowers of the field

The Soul with Thee will flourish

When heaven is revealed

Have pity on us, Daddy

Doubt’s dark despair forbid

As we cry to Thee, Abba

Like once dear Jesus did

Kindle in us a vision

When dust its due reclaims

Of hope's tear-stained transition

Instilling faith’s dust-frames

Our Father, (who art) in heaven

Bend Thine ear to our plea

That all may be forgiven

That all humbly fear Thee

And find in Thy compassion

Thy kind comfort to cheer

The Soul, clad in frail fashion

Of dust-knitted veneer 

Ignite in us Thy Presence

 Thou, Friend above all friends

Behold faith's smoking incense

As prayer on prayer ascends 

Until the mortal flower

Fulfills its ordained must

Have pity on us, Father

Remember, we are dust

In Thy name we pray

Amen

© Janet Martin

Hebrews 4:15-16 (BSB)

For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses,

but we have one who was tempted in every way that we are, yet was without sin.

 Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence,

 so that we may receive mercy and find grace 

to help us in our time of need.

Where Could I Go but To The Lord-Emmylou Harris