Keeping 'Good Old Days' Alive...

It's another buses-cancelled day so no kiddos for childcare...

Leaving some extra opportunity to practice what I poem 😅💕

Pour a second cup, dark umber

Because I start and finish with the same stanza

 this poem can be read from the top down 

or bottom up!

Put a kettle on to simmer

Watch flame-dancers twist and jive

Let the simple joys of winter

Keep the good, old days alive

Ease the angst of hurried lunch-breaks

Like a sabbath middle-day

Count the stars that fall in snowflakes

Wake the child that lost its way

Watch the birds without vain fretting

About what we cannot know

He who feeds sparrows is setting

Tomorrow’s ducks in a row

Let prudence and leisure mingle

Home-sweet-domesticity

While chores, books and gales rekindle

Good old days waiting to be

Pour a second cup, dark umber

It is winter. Sit and nod

Sweat and toil of summer slumber

Aching feet rest, slipper-shod

Taste a bit ‘o Brit tradition

Have a biscuit with your tea

Sometimes happiness is hidden

In plain-sight-simplicity

Let nature nourish and gladden

Gather barren branch bouquets

Plant a bowl-sized indoor garden

Let winter thrill and amaze

Make music with moment measure

Shake a fist at sparrow-hawk

Practice culinary pleasure

Do not haste the hungry clock

Crosswords, puzzles, scrabble, kittens

Paint a pic with poem-ink

Don a parka, hat and mittens

Let frost kisses turn cheeks pink

Savor winter’s favors slowly

Let its flavors steep each sense

With thanksgiving, meek and holy

Drink in argent ambience

Put a kettle on to simmer

Watch flame-dancers twist and jive

Let the simple joys of winter

Keep the good, old days alive

© Janet Martin

Rekindled Delight

 

Across a landscape ethereal

And not yet tamed by time

To journeymen of syllable

Unfurls a world of rhyme

And stars that poets climb

Sometimes knowledge alone is cursed

And deaf to the wild sound

That plagues the lowly bard with thirst

For wisdom not yet found

And lyrics still unbound

How ephemeral is the gate

That swings softly ajar

To usher through glimmers that bait

Poems that not yet are

Save in one fallen star

…snared on a shimmer of surprise

To thwart the stinging bite

Of words cut down to arrow size

To spur the songsters flight

In rekindled delight

The bull's eye of a poet's heart

Weathers many-a-test

Long suffering is worth the art 

And hunger worth the quest

Of sorrow at its best

© Janet Martin

Of Unrelenting Mystery

I'm SO excited to share the link to my friend's

 (and long ago next-door neighbor's) latest venture;

one she has been in training for in a sense, almost her whole life!

Check it out!

Nourish Body and Soul-Bringing peace to your table through nutrition and faith

As I read about her journey to this point

it reminded me to remember no matter what season we are in,

when dreams seem stagnant in streams

 of Commonplace Commitments

or mundane musts 

or dire detours teaching trust,

God is always prepping the soil or

pruning the plant,

for the dream/hope to flourish and flower in

His perfect Timing.

Does it not make us all take heart exactly where we are,

 if but to simply pray,

'God, help me shine and grow for You today?'!

(where the Unrelenting Mystery of tomorrow waits...)

Wherever we are called to be

Whatever we are called to do

We have one charge, ultimately

To be a vessel God shines through

The highs and lows of day-to-day

Serve purposes we cannot guess

While we are learning to obey

And trust God’s faithful promises

Experience is not in vain

How often we are blindly blessed

While wisdom we have yet to gain

Is veiled in the pain of the test

The Here-and-Now that we are in

Is but a steppingstone whereby

We advance, always to begin

So much more than yet meets the eye

Petal by petal, buds unfold

Where masterpieces wait to spill

Like we, cradled in the kind hold

Of God’s perfect timing and will

What sacred common ground we share

Of Unrelenting Mystery

For who knows what waits to prepare

Us for what is waiting to be 

© Janet Martin

1 Corinthians 10:31
So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do,

 do it all to the glory of God.

Let's Take a Winter Stroll

 The photos present a condensed version of today's poem😊

(most of the brook is frozen but

here and there its song bursts through! Delightful.)

Let’s stroll beneath the blue-sky wraith that draws us to applaud

And scale hope’s slopes not veiled by faith to touch the hand of God

Let’s consider the lilies clad in winter-white array

And sing as glorious throbs of gladness carry cares away

Let’s linger in a theater of hill and dell and tree

To watch the brook meander on its journey to the sea

Let’s keep a careful distance from the clock’s determined mien

That steals with plum persistence into shadows long and lean

Let’s pay closer attention to masterpiece-laden trays

Where inept comprehension staggers beneath breathless gaze

Let’s weigh the weightless treasure of Now’s equilibrium

Stunned by the mighty measure of Moment’s momentous sum

Let’s wonder at suggestions of what eye has never seen

And ramble through reflections of summer’s unraveled green

Let’s trace gracious caresses that evoke a hymn so pure

From frosted fronds and tresses etched on bottomless azure

Let’s find a sabbath feeling stealing through want’s workaday

Holy, holy, the healing where nature’s orchestras play

Let’s listen to the rise and fall of fallow wind-strummed span

Until we grow so very small and utter ‘what is man’

Let’s look beyond the obstacles that mar our every days

And marvel at the miracles that preach, teach and amaze

Let’s bear love’s yoke of broken hurt with footsteps worship-shod

And scale hope’s frozen slopes of dirt to glimpse the face of God

© Janet Martin

Psalm 8

O Lord, our Lord,

How excellent is Your name in all the earth,

Who have set Your glory above the heavens!

2 Out of the mouth of babes and nursing infants

You have [b]ordained strength,

Because of Your enemies,

That You may silence the enemy and the avenger.

3 When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers,

The moon and the stars, which You have ordained,

4 What is man that You are mindful of him,

And the son of man that You visit[c] him?

5 For You have made him a little lower than [d]the angels,

And You have crowned him with glory and honor.

6 You have made him to have dominion over the works of Your hands;

You have put all things under his feet,

7 All sheep and oxen—

Even the beasts of the field,

8 The birds of the air,

And the fish of the sea

That pass through the paths of the seas.

9 O Lord, our Lord,

How excellent is Your name in all the earth!

What Do I/We Know But This...

'Being a follower of Jesus is so sweet and wonderful and easy!' I said to myself yesterday,

...while sitting quietly in the comfort of a church pew

...being fed from God's Word!

Then BOOM!! As soon as I get up reality hits!

 I stick my foot in my mouth,

 I blunder,

 I err in judgement and desire,

I let Satan mock me, 

unnerve me, 

discourage me, 

oh!! the battle is real 

and relentless 

and hard!

Prayers often reduced to nothing more than 

 a flood of tears and groans...help me, God, help me 

to know how to honor and glorify You and only You.

this morning His answer seemed to flow distinctly through the

Bible in a Year: Genesis 39 - 40; Matthew 11 passages 

summarized in two words 'trust' and 'obey'!

(I originally wrote this in first person but then changed it to 'we'

because together we weather the wants and woes and taunts and blows 

of faith's highs and lows...)

What do I/we know but this; when I/we trust and obey

The blessing of God’s presence is sufficient for the day

When God’s Words contradict what logic deems as right

Obedience and trust commit to walk by faith, not sight

God’s higher thoughts and ways hone hope’s humility

Blessed is the one who obeys unconditionally

Satisfied to believe what is not understood

Knowing God’s promises achieve His purpose for our good

Oh God, forgive me/us when I/we err in what I/we seek

The spirit is willing, amen. But oh, the flesh is weak

Lord, rebuke stubborn pride and teach me/us how to pray

Because wisdom is justified when I/we trust and obey

© Janet Martin

Trust and Obey

(sharing another good old hymn by David Wesley)

I think I started over 5 times with today's poem...

resorting at last to what we were repeatedly advised to do

when I was part of a writer's group years ago

'write what you know'...inspiring the first line instantly

'what do I know?? but this...

Oh, Let Love's Incense Rise

Wake up, wake up, break out in song!

Judges 5:12

There is only one way to keep the believer's worship hymn alive!

And that is revisiting the place where by faith we were made whole

at the foot of the cross of Calvary

and to marvel again and again at our Saviour's 

love that suffered so on our behalf

Alas and Did My Saviour Bleed?

Oh, let love’s incense rise poured out in prayerful throng

Let worship fill the earth and skies with hope’s unflinching song

To He who paid sin’s debt we owe a debt of love

To be as wise as serpents yet as harmless as a dove

To lay aside sin’s weight that easily ensnares

To believe rather than debate what God alone declares

To trust Him and obey; A conscientious thing

To pour on altars of Today Worship’s drink offering

For we are reconciled through grace no one can earn

Through Jesus Christ, who when reviled did not evil return

But yielded unto death to conquer Satan’s strife

So that faith with its dying breath would step from death to life

Because God is not slack concerning promises

Mercy holds heaven’s armies back in prolonged faithfulness

For He so loved the world He gave Himself to win

Deliverance from hell unfurled in punishment for sin

His precepts do not shift while He waits patiently

For all who do not have the gift purchased at Calvary

Oh, let love’s incense rise; poured out with joy and awe

As worship fills the earth and skies with praise for mercy's law

May love's song never cease but ever brim and brim

As more and more receive the peace that only comes from Him

Who is able always to do His perfect will

Then let worship with prayerful praise His glory spill and spill

(...for we have been set free from the death that did wait;

Divorced for all eternity from love, to Satan's hate)

The glory of the cross transforms love's agony

How little is the servant's cost compared to Calvary

 Then sing with heart and soul, the hymn of conquered dread

Because the faith that makes us whole will raise us from the dead

© Janet Martin

And he said unto him, Arise, go thy way: 

thy faith hath made thee whole.

Luke 17:19

Ode to a Sunrise

It must be memorialized;

the first sunrise of 2023!!

gold floods the waking world

welkin wealth spills and swells

like a glimpse of heaven unfurled

to crown earth’s hills and dells

a fervent friendliness

kindles ageless romance

hope dons the humble happiness

that bids the heart to dance

as morning laughs and sings

and makes us feel so fine

creating castles fit for kings

with glorious sunshine

...the fog-sullen rampart

dissolves; earth held at bay

Is unveiled like a work of art

Entitled Sunny Day

...a vaulted coffer tips

a dazzling surf of stars

across dawn's common ground that drips

from the Artist's paint jars

© Janet Martin

Psalm 105:2

Sing unto him, sing psalms unto him: 

talk ye of all his wondrous works.

Psalm 96:1
Sing to the LORD a new song; 

sing to the LORD, all the earth.

Psalm 143:5
I remember the days of old; 

I meditate on all Your works; 

I consider the work of Your hands.

Psalm 145:17

The Lord is righteous in all His ways,
Gracious in all His works.

One of my favorite hymns by one of my favorite artists!!

Thankyou David Wesley!

Goodness of God

We Will Go Forth (and a few more Thursday Thoughts)

We cannot outlive the Unknown

or challenges we face 

But look, each moment's steppingstone

is anchored in God's grace

Faith's substance of things we hope for

will someday rend the veil

Revealing the complete splendor

Of love that did not fail

***

The sunless stretch continues...

not sure what happened to last week's forecast for this week's yellow...

It could certainly have the potential to dampen our spirits if we let it!

But...

If we would fixate on the weather we might be quite glum

It's been a dose of dreary, drippy, damp, sunless ho-hum

But love and life are so much more than covers of a book

So much of what is written is hidden until we look!

Then as we turn the pages where God's goodness overflows

We find ourselves quite speechless, awed by blessings He bestows 

***

Seeds are so very, very small

Sometimes we doubt their clout

And dare to wonder where they fall

...until they start to sprout 

Seeds look like nothing much at first

Mere crumbs, mundane and mute

But from the crumb, when it has burst

Comes all manner of fruit 

Seeds seem to be too slight and slow    

To hold much harm or good

But as the sprout begins to grow

Seed's clout is understood 

***

Our worlds are often mirrored in the shimmer of a tear

Or lightened by the laughter of someone we love so dear

Or sweetened by the banter of a breeze, a child, a bird

Or brightened by the candle of a kind and gentle word

Hard knocks are often softened by a handshake and a smile

Making the world that shimmers in a tear, so worth its isle/while

***

Tick-tock tempo laps the shoreline of  a winter afternoon 

Like the summer-blue momentum of lake-lyrics lazy tune 

Like a breeze undresses tresses of its leaf-shaped souvenirs 

Tick-tock tempo falls and rises until winter disappears

***  

This morning's foggy shroud inspired the beginning of this poem...

We will go forth then, you and I

The view of what yet waits withheld

Like a masterpiece made of sky

Vaulted above the mist-veiled veldt

While the clocks unrelenting toll

Unfurls and collects, synchronized

In breath-sized billows as they roll

Through hopes salvaged from dreams capsized

Undoing what we thought we knew

With sudden, foreign points of view

We will go forth because, my dear

No choice awaits but to proceed

Faith spurs us on and spars with fear

As scars forge wisdom’s crown and creed

Where delight, like a diamond stud

Dazzles dark backdrops of dismay

Where hope, like an unbroken bud

Reminds us of blooms held at bay

Cheering us on as vast unknowns

Unfold flowers and steppingstones

We will go forth but not alone

Goodness and mercy follow still

Where thoroughfares of grin-and-groan

Are never all down or uphill

The valley where shadows are cast

Like creases in a color-world

While the Master pieces the Past

With present grace on grace unfurled

His able Hands cradle the sky

We will go forth thence, you and I

© Janet Martin

(For we walk by faith, not by sight:)

2 Cor.5:7