Sweet Comfort and Joy

Psalm 139:5

You hem me in behind and before, and you lay your hand upon me.

In our small group bible/sermon studies through our church, last night

we were contemplating the verse below and how we can be mightily transformed in our

thinking and actions if we truly take God at His word!

Heb.13:5

Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, 

because God has said, “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.”

In today's Daily Bread Devotion  we are reminded

 that no one knows what will happen!

Life is always full of uncertainties.

God and his Word the one constant certainty!

Hallelujah!

God, Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen

What sweet comfort and joy

Before, behind, beside

A safeguard nothing can destroy

Shields us from evil’s tide

Where, though storms ebb and flow

And oft we weep and groan

What sweet comfort and joy to know

We are never alone

Dear one, do not despair

No matter what betide

God keeps us in His faithful care

Before, behind, beside

No foe can penetrate

The bulwark of His Word

No guard on earth can compensate

For God’s arm undeterred

What He says He will do

His vow is bona fide

He accompanies me and you

Before, behind, beside

Nothing seen can compare

To the peace faith receives

As humble trust turns into prayer

And utterly believes

How near The Unseen draws

As sweet comfort and joy

Transcends The Seen with hope because

Of what none can destroy

© Janet Martin

Isa. 40:28

Do you not know?

 Have you not heard? 

The LORD is the everlasting God, 

the Creator of the ends of the earth. 

He will not grow tired or weary,

 and his understanding no one can fathom.

November Dusk Ditty

Tomorrow’s troubles can wait

(I’ve learned they always do)

Let’s linger at time’s phantom gate

While dusk deepens its blue

And snuffs away the view

Until all we can see

Is someone in the window staring

Back at you and me

Leave morrow’s sorrows be

Today has quite enough

To wrangle into poetry

Of hope and hurt and love

Of blush and bronze and mauve

Like colors on a tray

That fell beneath the velvet veil that

Brushed the world away

© Janet Martin

My 'I Shall Not Want' Want-list

I want to see the beauty in each day that He has made...

Our world is completely winterized where only two weeks ago 

I took a long walk admiring the remnant foliage of fall...

And just like that, with the snow

thoughts of Christmas start to take center stage

where want and wish lists also begin to take shape...

While gifts are nice and delightful expressions of love,

as we grow older, we realize more and more

 that what satisfies our Want cannot be unwrapped from

pretty paper and ribbons.

The Lord is my Shepherd.

I shall not want...

Ps. 23:1

Without refreshment and renewal found in God's Word alone.

our want lists are apt to run a bit askew,

and discouragement would drain

our 'joy complete'

John 15:9-11

“As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. 

Now remain in my love. 

10If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love,

 just as I have kept my Father’s commands and remain in his love. 

11I have told you this so that my joy may be in you 

and that your joy may be complete.

Joyful, Joyful, We Adore Thee

I want my thoughts established in the soundness of God’s Word

I want by joy completed when I see Him face to face

I want my footsteps ordered by His law to undergird

I want my gladness anchored in the goodness of His grace

I want my focus fixed upon The Prize we cannot see

I want my thirst and hunger satisfied by righteousness

I want my hope held steadfast in the promises of He

Whose love and justice will not fail to comfort, keep and bless

I want my store of treasure to be more than merchant wage

I want to want more dearly what this world can never give

I want to hold fast to the teachings passed from age to age

I want a heart that grows more thankful with each day I live

I want to treat my fellowman with kind humility

I want with heart and soul and mind to love the Lord, my God

I want my light to shine so others may see Him in me

And with the gospel of His peace, I want my feet thus shod

I want to never envy ungodly prosperity 

I want to not be fooled by the appearance of the shell

I want, with awe and wonder to look upon Calvary

To remember the empty tomb: Christ conquered death and hell

I want to see God's beauty in each day that He has made

I want to work toward a goal beyond this world's success

I want to be discerning where wolves in sheep's clothes invade

I want to leave behind a legacy of faithfulness 

I want to keep my tongue from meting cruel blow for blow

I want to find the Life no thief can steal, kill or destroy

And when I die, I want to hear the sweetest words I know

“Well done, thou good and faithful servant. Enter Thy Lord’s joy”

© Janet Martin

Winter Happiness

 

In case we still had doubts as to whether winter was really here,

last night and this morning cleared up any lingering confusion😅💓!

The crunch of leaves beneath our feet are blanketed with snow

As all along the silent street our muffled footsteps go

Where, fast asleep beneath a starred duvet of eiderdown

Earth looks like a vintage postcard of countryside and town

…where good old days and good old ways suddenly reappear

In tea kettles and hearths ablaze with home-sweet, home-spun cheer

…while every rooftop, post and plume are swaddled in a muff

That tumbles from a lofty loom threaded with frosty fluff

While every nose turns rosy-red while the whole world turns white

And earth becomes a featherbed much to each child’s delight

…where they, as happy as can be with eyes and cheeks aglow

Stir us to recall tenderly, childhoods of long ago

As shouts of joy and starry gaze for winter’s first snow fall

Suddenly make these ‘modern days’ not seem modern at all

Rekindling good, old-fashioned mirth as we walk hand in hand

Through snowflakes transforming the earth to winter’s wonderland

Where the first flurry of the year regardless of its chill

Wakens in us the warmth and cheer of old fashioned good will

...and good, old-fashioned thankfulness for good, old-fashioned joys

Of good old-fashioned happiness of winter's girls and boys  

© Janet Martin

Unplumbed Knowledge (Too Wonderful For Me)

Inspired by Psalm 139

Such knowledge is too wonderful for me;

it is high, I cannot attain unto it.

 Psalm 139:6

O lord, thou hast searched me, and known me. v.1

Search me, O God, and know my heart: 

try me, and know my thoughts:

24 And see if there be any wicked way in me 

and lead me in the way everlasting. v.23-24

There is no fooling You

Lord, you know all our ways

While we were knitted in the womb

You beheld all our days

While we were being wrought

You knew us every one

Before a thought became a thought

Before a deed was done

Your knowledge hemmed us in

Behind, beside, before

Beneath the shadow of your Wing

You keep us evermore

Lord, we are fearfully

And wonderfully made

You know the place intimately

Where thought and choice are weighed

You search and know each heart

Nothing is hid from you

For you fashioned our inmost part

Before one breath we drew

Then, search where you have searched

Lest wicked ways remain

Lest craftiness of pride is perched

Where worship is made vain

Lord, lead us in the way

Of everlasting life

Shield us from the cunning buffet

Of vanity’s vain strife

But purify our hearts

To praise you more and more

Your goodness and mercy imparts

All we are thirsting for

Your thoughts; what preciousness

To think that they should be

Of us, oh, Lord, such knowledge is

Too wonderful for me

© Janet Martin

Too Wonderful For Me- Shane & Shane

Caught in the Quick

Ready or not it's winter in our neck of the woods!

Do you ever feel like the seasons kinda drift by like floats in a phantom parade?

And what can we do but smile, applaud their beauty as they pause/pass

then wave farewell and focus on the next one?!

Enjoy⛄❄!

Caught in the quick of days of grass

The seasons flare and fade

With worlds that wow us as they pass

Like floats in a parade

Caught in the quick of tick and tock

Bygone’s coffer accrues

Withered petals of hollyhock

And heaps of outgrown shoes

Caught in the quick of here and now

How subtle is the surge

Of teeming tides that ebb and flow

Where past and future merge

Caught in the quick of dawn to dawn

And faces/places cupped and kissed

Before they slip through fingers, gone

Like hurricanes of mist

Caught in the quick of dust to dust

We grapple with time’s toll

Like spectacles that we adjust

On noses of the soul

© Janet Martin

To everything there is a season, A time for every purpose under heaven:

Eccles.3:1

A little photo parade of flashbacks💖

Flower Bower/Power

 Watching day dawn was a little like watching a bud unfold its flower!

The heavens burst with hymns

For Mercy’s ceaseless ways

The bower of Beginning brims

And overflows with praise

The countenance of earth

Dons shades of hope renewed

As witnessing God’s grace gives birth

To humble gratitude

Darkness cannot prevail

Morning melts midnight’s gloom

With perfect love that will not fail

As heavens burst with bloom

© Janet Martin

Give Me Jesus

Lam 3:22-23 ESV

The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases;[a]
    his mercies never come to an end;
23 they are new every morning;
    great is your faithfulness.

(Not) Changing the World

We may not, in the grand scheme of things, change the world

but we can certainly do our bit!

 A reverence for angels that are growing up too fast...

An eye to see the beauty in each season’s works of art...

A note of thankfulness, even when the song is off-key

A traveling companion with a heart of sympathy

A word of consolation and a patient ear to hear

An air of celebration no matter the time of year

Because, though we may never change the world, we can begin

To make it a bit better in the corner we are in

A love for one another that makes every day worthwhile

A joy that comes from blessings like a home, a hug, a smile

A cup of tea with you and me, awareness of a page

We fill with today’s memories, no matter our age

An eye to see the beauty in each season’s works of art

Where though we may not change the world, we may cheer/change a small part

A reverence for angels that are growing up too fast

A prayer for grace and guidance as we face what soon is past

A sweeter disposition as the days to years run rife

A deep appreciation for the simple things in life

Where, though we may not change the world with our rhythm and rhyme

We can gladden the place we are, one kindness at a time

Awe, as we consider the birds and learn what they would teach

Hope, as we trust God’s outstretched hand, always within our reach

Humility as we become older and pray, more wise

And soften our answers, often much to our surprise

Because we realize, although we may not change the world

Right where we are, we can add to its loveliness unfurled

Endeavoring to grumble less and sing a little more

And savoring soul-happiness, like wreaths on a front door

And wondering at wonders that never cease to amaze

Where earth and heavens thunder with a smorgasbord of ways

To author praise and turn a meeker gaze to fellowman

Where though we may not change the world, we can change what we can

© Janet Martin

Awe, as we consider the birds...