Fortune of Favour

Sometimes it's easy to lose sight of

More than Morning rolling over the skyline, isn't it?!

A burnished ambience swaddles the earth as the heavens seem torn between rain and sun!

...for now, sunshine seems to be triumphing! 

From the Giver to the taker rolls the toll of morning tide

Like a blushing river rushing over skylines far and wide

Universal, kind dispersal of God’s mercy; we embark

Hope and heartache humbly partake of the gift that rends the dark

From the Teacher to the reaching readiness of creature call

Altogether, born to weather whatsoever will befall

Where the earning of our learning often startles me and you

With the ruing and undoing of so much we thought we knew

From God’s love that will not falter to the altar of Today

Spills a flood of grace and goodness time’s epic ebb cannot sway

From His table we are able to partake of mercy’s feast

Gaze in wonder at hope’s grandeur from the greatest to the least

From the Giver to the taker mankind’s numbered days decline

Growing older as we shoulder ways that chasten and refine

Tender splendor, Healer, Mender of the brokenness we bear

From the Giver to the taker, spills our kind Creator's care

Oh, how hard would be the heartache, how melancholy each mile

Without Hope’s immortal portal to comfort and reconcile

As we press toward the mark where darkness and dread disappear

From the Giver to the taker brims love’s clarion hymn of cheer

From the Giver to the taker, what fortune of favor flows

From our Father up in Heaven what redemption He bestows

Oh, what depth and height and breadth, His riches none can comprehend

God, faith's author and perfector, God, man's protector and Friend

© Janet Martin

Rom.11:33-36

O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God!

 how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out!

For who hath known the mind of the Lord? 

or who hath been his counsellor?

Or who hath first given to him, 

and it shall be recompensed unto him again?

For of him, and through him, and to him, are all things: 

to whom be glory forever. 

Amen.

A wonderful hymn of hope and worship to begin a new week!

Christ the True and Better (Lyric Video) - Matt Boswell & Matt Papa

Already I Am Mourning...

'Oh!' I sighed/moaned, 'When am I going to get time to read all of these beautiful books

full of ever-so-fantastic writing?!'

'You won't' came my daughter Victoria's instant reply.

'That's the sad truth about owning a library! 

You will never read all of the books!'

...But they are still nice to have nearby, like comfortable, wise, old friends.

Already I am mourning all the ways we didn’t meet

I didn’t linger in the leaves you scattered at my feet

I never did discover what you made me think or say

Or needed to recover as your whisper slipped away

The solace that we found in one another’s company

The way you wound yourself around places inside of me

The way you would have kissed me if I’d given you a chance

The way I would have missed you after our parting dance

After the afternoon we didn’t spend, just you and I

With not a thing between us but perhaps a parchment sigh

The friends we could have been, darling, does it not break your heart

The way that we will never meet thus we will never part

A little like a flower bloomed unseen and gone to seed

Already I am mourning all the books I didn’t read

© Janet Martin

Lens Awareness

We view other people's lives through the lens of our own experiences.

One size does not fit all!!

If only we remembered that the window we peer through

Is not a universal, unobstructed point of view

Where, we all dream, hope, hurt and bear the cares of time and place

And no one is beyond the need of sympathetic grace 

While one is celebrating a victorious delight

Another is debating whether life is worth the fight

 The highs and lows of thorns and roses scatter in the wake

Of what becomes the lens through which we view life's give and take

Where soon a season disappears, turned into memories

Laughter and tears unrav'ling years like leaves unravel trees

While, weathering the wounds and wonders of gladness and gall

Of All-in-this-together but one lens does not fit all

Some sorrows flash like neon signs, some lodge deep in the heart

Not one of us can see behind the facade of the art

Where we are all God's workmanship, all simply fellowmen

Not one of us fully equipped to wield the Poet's Pen

Without thought of the welfare of each other first in mind

Because the lenses we look through are each one-of-a-kind

© Janet Martin

Phil.2:4

Let each of you look out not only for his own interests,

 but also for the interests of others.

Today-sums

After an incredibly productive, bittersweet, hectic week 

I am forcing myself to slow down a bit this morning,

something sometimes hard to do when so much to do seems always in the way!! 

So sometimes I need to consciously carve out little corners of refreshment 

lest Dear Duty blinds me to the Sheer Beauty of Today!

already Today has wowed!

this, the view through the window beside my writing desk.

Thank-you God!

(A view that faithful visitors are quite familiar with

because I love to share the delight of

 this view as it is transformed, morning to morning, season to season)

***

Last Saturday our son moved out for the foreseeable forever future!

As happy as I am for him, I am weathering the inevitable

mother-grief that comes with season-ends.

He has had brief stints of independence before,

but when I saw his books, basketball, fishing rod etc. 

on the heap of stuff piled at the door

I realized this move has a much more permanent flavor!

'Today' often dances across time's threshold so fleet-footedly

 we sometimes forget the cast Today-sums are creating!

So, lets fold hopes and hurts into prayer,

and place them in the hands of Today's Giver!

He is able!

This is what the Lord says—
    your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel:
“I am the Lord your God,
    who teaches you what is best for you,
    who directs you in the way you should go.

Isa.48:14

The past is filled with all the things we always did ‘Today’

A cast instilled with echoes that sometimes come out to play

The loveliness of laughter in an afternoon beneath

The blue and balmy rafter that sweet summer days bequeath

Before the door we dashed through lowered a dusk-laden bar

On paint-trays that we splashed through on the way To Where We Are

The past, a vast collection of Love’s Once Upon a Time

Replays a frayed reflection of a muffled season-chime

Where once notes fell, keen and precise, in oft overlooked grace

Before the knell of Bygone’s bell enhanced the commonplace

As we are softly smitten by the sheerness of the flit

That scratches like a kitten with the sacredness of it

Look! Here a moment glimmers, ah, already it is spent

Past’s book of ages shimmers with pages once Present-bent/lent

How very velvet is the brush dipped into Time’s veiled tray

As its permanent ink arranges Tableaus of Today

And suddenly, how very rare Right Where We Are becomes

Aware of how a life is a Tally of Today-sums

The past is always hungry for the treasure in our hand

We cannot keep its measure from Yesterday’s shadowland

So, lest we are caught gazing at tincture on Bygone’s tray

Let’s keep a kind eye on the picture falling from Today

Because Love’s Once Upon a Time is always in full swing

A very virile season-chime of Today’s offering

…where God’s grace grants each new Today’s fresh opportunity

(Does it not bid us kneel and pray before we scale its lea?)

Lest boldly we set foot upon its very holy stage

Heedless of Who begets the dawn of Time’s unblemished page

And forget, what is spilled runs rife long after its foray

Because the past is always filled with life we lived Today

© Janet Martin

So, wherever in the world you are

Happy, holy Today!

Moments are a momentous gift!

'Today' sums up a life in no time flat!

Let's treasure the mementos moments make!

The Grass Withers

The grass withers, the flower fades,

But the word of our God stands forever.”

Isa.40:8

This verse inspired today's poem,

started at 7:00 a.m.

Why is it not getting posted till after 6:00 p.m.?

Well, before I was quite finished with it tot # 1 arrived

and was delighted to help with some chores 

connected with yesterday's garden-purge!

First job. Prep Swiss chard for freezing.

I cut off the leaves and he put the stalks in a pail...

Then tot # 2 arrived excited to peel beets!

Tot #1 politely declined to help with this very purple task😅

Victoria is taking roasted veg to a supper potluck.

When I looked for the pan, I remembered it's in the oven with a batch of granola

I put in along with lunch prep! 😅😐

In the spring I was the happy recipient of an air fryer

won at a stag and doe!

Today I used it for the first time, to cook our lunch! 

fries and chicken fingers for tots then squash for my lunch!

and I am in the process

of trying to give it a permanent home on my already full countertop...

because the squash was PERFECT with 2 tsp. of olive oil

and seasoning and a drizzle of maple syrup!

Can't wait to try all the recipes in the book! Next? Cabbage steak!

...back to the potluck!

The girl who was going to bring pie for dessert isn't feeling well

so suddenly in the midst of veg-eruption...pie!

now the tots have gone home

after some baby grandson cuddles, of course!!

Potluck food is on its way.

(insert chamber music lol!)

This evening I will pickle the beets...

and chop and stir-fry the Swiss chard to freeze for soups etc.

make a quick batch of tomato soup with the last of the tomatoes

oh! Yes, there was a poem on the back burner!

Now, do you understand the delay?!

The grass, it withers

The flowers, they fade...

The wind, it winnows

The tree of its shade...

The grass, it withers

The flowers, they fade

The wind, it winnows

The tree of its shade

The garden is quiet

Its rush hour through

Where once a riot

Of seed splendor grew

The orchard’s glimmer

Of garnet and gold

Wanes before winter

Turns corridors cold

Before the hustle

Of gales sweeps its halls

Where footsteps rustle

Where leaf-lyric falls

Where children frolic

And chatter and play

Before time’s music

Draws childhood away

Before they weather

The surge of a sea

Light as a feather

Yet wild as can be

The golden luster

Of leaf ambience

Pales in the bluster

That blows out its lamps

Leaving the streets of

Autumn softly strewn

With remnant glints of

Summer’s afternoon

© Janet Martin

Winnowed World

Satisfy us in the morning with your unfailing love, 

 that we may sing for joy and be glad all our days.

Psalm 90:14

Without More to live for than This

life would be a leap of lack! 

But by the grace of God

we may sing for joy

and be glad all our days!

Time's season-circuit seems to spin faster and faster

as the years fly by...

I feel like I just planned and planted this year's gardens

and already we are gathering its final fare

and 'tucking' flower-haunts in for a nap!

Season-circuits sweep the surface

Of the earth and disappear

Before-after, sorrow-laughter

Meld in mementos of Here

Soft and subtle, brusque rebuttal

Grinds the gears of live-and-learn

Bitter-sweeter, dusk-defeater

Fuels flues of No Return

Buds and flowers, barren bowers

Season-circuit spins and spills

Giving, taking, sleeping, waking

Want and wonder taunts and thrills

One door opens while one closes

Rearranging points of view

Rush of roses soon exposes

Dust to dust’s inherent due

Tend to duty bent with beauty

Dazzling dreamlands laid to waste

Working, playing, hoping, praying

Lingering while hours haste

Sacred splendor, mean and tender

Keens the crux of have and hold

Kind and cruel binding duel

Weans Time’s tux of autumn-gold

Where the embers of September’s

Mellow, yellow flickers fade

Where the mettle of the petal

Falls like music-notes soft-played

Where the flurry of our hurry

Stirs a blur of Must-to-mist

Unfurled, winnowed world of windows

Full of faces farewell-kissed

© Janet Martin

So Thankful!

Finally, a Thanksgiving post!

Life is keeping me hopping!!

Phil.4:4-7

Rejoice in the Lord always: and again I say, Rejoice.

5 Let your moderation be known unto all men. The Lord is at hand.

6 Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication 

with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God.

7 And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, 

shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.

Psalm 107:15,21,31

Let them give thanks to the Lord for his unfailing love

and his wonderful deeds for mankind.

A Few Thankfulness collages

Family

Food

Flowers

Fall...

We thank You God, for Your love story nothing can erase

Your un-surpassing goodness, glory, faithfulness and grace

We thank you for the masterpieces of sky, sea and sod

Where wonder never ceases as You keep us humbly awed

We thank you for the beauty of the earth, the broken too

(For, oft it is the brokenness that births true want of you)

We thank you for your healing through the faith that makes us whole

Where hope is not a feeling but the anchor of the soul

We thank you for your promises nothing can nullify

Oh, what a friend we have in Jesus; you hear our heart’s cry

You know our secret struggles of temptation and dismay

In triumph and in troubles You are our Strength and Stay

We thank you for loved ones so dear, some near, some far away

For eyes to see and ears to hear what earth and heavens say

For teachers/preachers to advise, reprove, encourage, edify

Lest, wise in our own eyes we turn Your truth into a lie

We thank you for the lure of back roads off the beaten path

Where pure joy feasts on beauty goading praise where woodlands laugh

For friendly little faces, baby-precious, childhood sweet

For the echo that traces places swept with summer’s feet

We thank you for the way that daybreak’s debut steals the show

So thankful that come-what-so-may, You will not let us go

So thankful that your handiwork unfolds for all to see

Both rich and poor and young and old behold Your majesty

So thankful that each day is new, no two ever the same

So thankful for our work to do, lest sloth puts us to shame

So thankful for the ups and downs to make us more aware

Of gladness in the joy that crowns the sadness-es we bear

So thankful that in Heaven there will be no grief or pain

That when we are forgiven, we suffer nothing in vain

So thankful for a table that groans with Divine Delight

For Self, inept, unable to appease want’s appetite

So thankful for the cornucopia of harvest hymns

For all we learn through letting go that holding always brings

For holes we fill with happiness too delicate to clench

For nature’s seasoned friendliness no season can quite quench

So thankful for the simple things we dare not overlook

Small hands that make us feel as rich as kings, for a good book

For cups of milk or tea, for hugs so warm and wee, oh my

To melt our hearts and make life sweet as honeysuckle sigh

For supper-soup, and twilight strolls; for season tides we brave

Where goldenrod and aster tolls in countdowns to fall’s grave

Where roguish winds romance and winnow more than leaf from tree

Where we, not mere creatures of chance cradle eternity

Where, by the grace of God we need not grieve death’s grievous pall

If we receive (if we believe) what Christ achieved for all

The pardon for our sins; a gift so that no one can boast

The victory repentance wins through Mercy’s uttermost

We thank you for your Word, undeterred from age unto age

For how spirits are stirred as You speak from its ancient page

Your Word is our defense in a world rife with ruthless change

We thank-you for Your Presence that no power can estrange

We thank You that it is enough, Your love forevermore

That no amount of stuff can grant what we are searching for

Where each new day is like a love letter, fresh from Your hand

Where nothing could be better than whatever you command

With renewed gratitude we count our blessings, humbly awed

Dumbfoundedly confessing ‘there is no one like You, God’

Ah, You are so much more than pen can pour to poetry

With reverence we touch the hemline of Your Majesty

© Janet Martin

Wondrous Wellspring

Of all the countless things we give thanks for

One transcends them all!

Psalm 23:1

The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.

How Great Thou Art-Chris Rice

Not for boast or laud from mortals

Not for fame or vain success

Let me be a humble vessel

Yielded to Thy holiness

Tuned to the tender persuasion

Of Thy wisdom through Thy Word

For Thy counsel thwarts temptation

Quenches evil passions stirred

Pours me through and through with wonder

As grace and repentance wed

Satisfies want’s thirst and hunger

With living water and bread

Write in me Thy Great Love Story

Let goodness and mercy’s sea

Stun/run me through and through with glory

Only ever all for Thee

Fashion from the cares of living

And from meditation’s heart

A wellspring of pure thanksgiving

Singing God, how great Thou art

© Janet Martin

We Thank Thee-Jim Reeves