All In This Together

(Oh!! as I worked on this post I realized those first few flakes were but the prelude...)

This morning we return to a more monochromatic canvas

after, for 2023, a record-breaking three mornings in a row

of marmalade-hued morn!

We are all in this together

Universal farandole

Until God unties the tether

Twixt the body and the soul

From first breath we start to weather

Mankind’s fundamental plight

Where we, all in this together

All are precious in God’s sight

Sometimes we don’t treat each other

Quite as kindly as could be

Where we, all in this together

Are like a big family

Time wafts like a silver feather

Morn spills in marmalade hue

To we, still in this together

Not yet severed by death’s due

Then let us love one another

Before pray, it is too late

For we, all in this together

Are approaching Farewell’s Gate

What a gift it is to weather

Life together, by God's grace

Before He unties the tether

Twixt our bodies and His face

What a lot we have in common

All in this together, we

While we await God's sure summons

Are a worldwide family 

© Janet Martin

Thank-you, pear-picker in South Africa...

Banana-grower in Guatemala ...

Tea-harvester in China...

Dish manufacturer in Luxembourg...

Coffee-mug artist in the UK...

John 15:17
This is My command to you: Love one another.

Romans 12:10
Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. 

Outdo yourselves in honoring one another.

Romans 13:8
Be indebted to no one, except to one another in love.

 For he who loves his neighbor has fulfilled the law.

Romans 13:10
Love does no wrong to its neighbor.

 Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.

They Talk About Mermaid Tattoos

Ending an era with this little gal today; 

she is soon to be a proud Big Sister

(She doesn't know that she is the latest owner of a piece of Janet's heart💖)

But oh, what a perfectly-precious farewell day

with two of my favorite little gal-pals💕

It doesn't look like it here but oh, the conversation...😅💗💗💗

They talk about Mermaid tattoos

And Minions Bubble-bath and things

Like, how when thoap getth in your eyeth/soap gets in your eyes

It ‘really-really-very-thtingth’ /stings

And nothing is impossible

In a world not yet four years old

Still oblivious to the pull

Of Bygone’s oceanic hold

Their dollies board yoga-mat ships

Where giggling captains shout ahoy

And take the silliest of trips

To snack-time’s high-five, five-star joy

While we find life a gladder charge

In the delightful company

Of Darling Innocence at large

And pure and precious as can be

How unaware-ly they arrange

A gallery of mementos

Where nothing in the world can change

The pictures that these halls enclose

While heartstrings twang and tangle, oh

Where hold-and-letting-go soft-spars

With laughter-spangles lilting glow

And a sweet blur of salty stars

They stir a thankful melody

For pink-frock perfect happiness

For little girls, still fancy-free

Where childhood is earth’s heaven-ness

Before the slick wink of an eye

That turns us into hoarder’s of

Artwork that money cannot buy

Masterpieces entitled 'Love'

© Janet Martin

This sunny-deck tea-party was not just to say farewell

but to honor a birthday girl as well!

Happy 22nd Birthday, Victoria!

The little girls watched as I wrapped Victoria's birthday gift!

Granddaughter was SO excited!!

I reminded them that it's a secret so don't tell her!!

and they gave me their solemn word

...until, over come with excitement for her auntie's birthday

Grand daughter blurted out

'you have a gift and it's your two favorite-est books!😂💝💝💝

How Gently, Surely, Holy/Wholly, Purely...Joy

Rom.8:37

Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us.

Yes! A sunrise decorated daybreak's skies today!

Something akin to joy/spring fever surged through me as I drank it in

which got me to contemplating joy...

then lo, and behold! it was the topic of today's devotion

from My Utmost for His Highest by Oswald Chambers

How gently joy does not dismay

Its source, like a wellspring

Of blush and gold to counter gray

That life is bound to bring

How surely joy restores the soul

Amidst much creature care

To cheers us on toward the goal

Of joy beyond compare

How holy/wholly, joy clings to God’s word

As sorrow’s billows toss

While hope’s anchor abides, secured

In the pow’r of the cross

How purely joy assuredly brims

To bind grim wounds of grief

And stir a symphony of hymns

From worship’s weathered sheaf

How gently joy anoints the shores

Where often teardrops flow

For we are more than conquerors

Through God who loves us so

© Janet Martin

Majestic Masterpiece (aka Mercy)

To the locals, no, this was not today!😅😅

The one below is this morning!! 

just as majestic...at second glance!

Gold-dipped daybreaks have been far and few between, the last few months!!

The first photo one of the few from mid-February!

But, whether gold or gray the Giver is the same, who grants each day

What a sound, 

like muffled thunder, 

or a rolling sea

must fill God's ears

as millions of feet touch down 

each morn on the façade of eternity 

Yes, at first glance it appeared to be

'another lackluster dawn'

But a longer look transformed it...

and suddenly I was smitten with

a rekindled desire to taste 

in full its sparkle of moments

far too precious to waste

It rolls from age to age

Unruffled by the years

It sits at front and center stage

As night unveils its piers

To bear the brunt of feet

Where raring highs and lows

Of eternal import compete

Upon its fleeting pose

It gleams with hope’s appeal

And groans with hope’s despair

And laughs with hope’s replenished zeal

As worry yields to prayer

And hunger to the Must

That none can long ignore

But hounds Soul’s vestibule of dust

With wolves that stalk death’s door

It gleams with dreams reborn

From shards that love will purge

It rises on the mist of morn

Like a majestic verge  

To grant to mortal berth

Another worthy lease

As God plants on the face of earth

Mercy’s fresh masterpiece

Anchored in swells of change

A surf, where seasons shift

And circumstances rearrange

The turf, but not the gift

God siphons from the ash

Of Bygone’s lifeless fray

A jewel for yon eastward sash

A phoenix called Today

How oft we trample it

Underfoot without thought

While, all the while we sample it

With what God’s grace has wrought

Forbid we haste, unawed

By God’s mercy displayed

But as we waken, first applaud

This day that He has made

© Janet Martin

Well known, well-loved easily forgotten verses

that really bear daily repeating, don't they?!!💓🙏

Lam. 3:22-23

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

Psalm 118:24

This is the day the LORD has made; 

We will rejoice and be glad in it.

Love Letter

How precious is time's parchment...

How holy is the script

Of word and deed...

1 John 3:18

My little children, let us not love in word or in tongue, 

but in deed and in truth.

For our benefit, aid and comfort we have a love letter

written for every one of us from the Giver of every life!

Oh, that we would pore over it as thoroughly as someday

He will pore over ours!

Life is like a love letter

Each day is like a page

That bears the font of care and want

And passions we engage

The voice of choice is telling

It draws on what we think

How sacred is the hug and kiss

Of love’s permanent ink

While we weather the hurtles

Of livings highs and lows

We oft forget the sacred ‘yet’

That smiles and tears compose

We should be very prayerful/careful

Love cannot tell a lie

Each new day thrums with what becomes

Testaments of reply

How precious is time’s parchment

How holy is the script

Of word and deed that will succeed

The life that authored it

...for a Most Sacred/Solemn Meeting

As God reads each page through

A tell-all tale that will unveil

Who we were writing to

© Janet Martin

Two Words Like No Other...

Watching something can often rock us emotionally

rather than devotionally,

but I am praying as I watch The Chosen series,

it renews humble awe, love and devotion to Jesus who loves us so!!

Jesus calls Peter/us-The Chosen

(imagine if, at the cry for help from fisher(s of) men,

 we would run to their aid like Zebedee and the other two

 at 6:29-6:30)

Two words test and prove

 every feeling, desire, motive and love...

(pondering Peter today...as well as all true disciples)

Two words like no other

Alters consequence

Test’s devotion’s ardor

With obedience

Transcends mortal merit

Rejects worldliness

Guided by the Spirit

Rather than the flesh

Blessing beyond measure

Love’s humility

With a promised treasure

Faith cannot yet see

As, with motive fervent

It counts all but loss

Save to be a servant

Carrying a cross

To give Him the glory

He who with His blood

Wrote redemption's story

 Jesus, Son of God

Two words, kind and tender

Probes utter need where

 Only full surrender

Can His calling bear

…two words like no other

Charge eternity

Pray, how will we answer

Two words;

Follow Me

© Janet Martin

Matt.16:24-26

Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone desires to come after Me,

let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me.

25 For whoever desires to save his life will lose it,

but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it.

26 For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world,

and loses his own soul?

Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?

I Have Decided to Follow Jesus-Lydia Walker

Oh, So Precious Three-Year-Old

This is the best birthday ever, said Miss Delighted Almost-three-year-old, (tomorrow)

over and over, especially after Pink Donut was set before her!

Dolly is part of EVERYTHING we do!!😘

After she blew out the candles she sat and looked at it without touching it!

What are you waiting for, I asked, puzzled.

'for you to get a knife to cut it, so you can have some too!'

and once again this almost-three-year-old almost-angel

left me speechless with joy💝💗

She: Would you like some tea?

Me: What kind is it?

She, without skipping a beat: Strawberry-bubblegum tea!

Me; Yum! I would love some!!😂💖

They drive us mildly wild with endless questionings of ‘why?’

While reviving the child in us that otherwise would die

A perfect mix of mischief and happy helper, so proud

They are so very darling and so very, very loud

They try last shreds of patience just before they melt our hearts

And make us cry with laughter at what innocence imparts

They teach us to look longer and walk slower than before

As we examine puddles, worms, bugs, leaves and so much more

They tug our hands and suddenly we feel so very small

Beside Pure Trust gazing up at us, not yet three feet tall

They steal our breath with sacred dues and aching happiness

And scatter in the wake of outgrown shoes, mess after mess

They sometimes make us wonder who is teaching who the most

While they serve cups of bubble-gum tea and marshmallow toast

They watch us closely, learning far, far more than they are told

My, how we love them; Sweet, smart, oh so precious three-years-old

© Janet Martin

Yesterday she served me a teeny-tiny cup of coffee

'You make the best coffee!" I said after a very noisy sip

'what do you put in it?!'

...and again, without a pause she answered

 'marshmallows!'😂😂😂

Today's story...

Psalm 127:3

Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord,...

March Morning Celebration Meditation

Happy, Happy March!

(because I didn't get this poem posted this morning as originally planned

I could include a bonus dusk shot as well!)

"it looks like its one of those pray-for-strength days once again',

I remarked to my daughter this morning, as she told me about her 

lack-of-sleep night because of sick children...

(don't you find most days are better if we draw from a

wellspring of strength beyond our own?)

Dawn... 

Dusk...

Like a black cushion, full of pins

The night sky fades; the earth

Reappears where new day begins

Its waltz of woe and mirth

Across creation’s stomping ground

(In full color, no less)

Hope and strength for today are found

In God’s kind promises

He hears our prayers, He knows our need

No matter what we face

No care we bear can e’er exceed

The measure of His grace

Thus, though we cannot see what lies

Beyond a moment’s sum

It is enough to realize

Where our help comes from

...the Maker of Heaven and earth

Watches o'er you and me

His mercy stokes night's death with birth

Dawn is a bird set free 

© Janet Marin

Psalm 121

A song of ascents.

1 I lift up my eyes to the mountains—

where does my help come from?

2 My help comes from the Lord,

the Maker of heaven and earth.

3 He will not let your foot slip—

he who watches over you will not slumber;

4 indeed, he who watches over Israel

will neither slumber nor sleep.

5 The Lord watches over you—

the Lord is your shade at your right hand;

6 the sun will not harm you by day,

nor the moon by night.

7 The Lord will keep you from all harm—

he will watch over your life;

8 the Lord will watch over your coming and going

both now and forevermore.