Collections of Today or (of Eternal Unreachable)

Today, the page on which every life-story is written!

A bevy of birds and blooms

cheers this time of year's incessant duty with beauty!!

Unreachable, the poses exhumed from Past’s picture-show

Untouchable, the roses that bloomed a summer ago

Unmovable, unchangeable, scenes of spent seasons splay

In an un-rearrangeable Collection of Today

Yesterday's lifeless embers cannot warm the outstretched hand

An empire of echoes is naught but a shadowland

So then, ere dusk erases what will never more return

Of today’s tender graces and of lessons yet to learn

...of names still warm with faces we can touch and cup and kiss

Before Framed Font/Want replaces Today’s Very Present ‘This’

Still very rife with reason at the mercy of Because

Before the soldered season of Collections of What Was

Let's live as if today was all we have, for so it is

Each hour rolling like a wave tolling Past's Genesis   

Composing the unchangeable, irretrievable play

Of eternal, unreachable Collections of Today

© Janet Martin

1 Tim.4 BSB

Godly Exhortation for Today...

Now the Spirit expressly states that in later times some will abandon the faith

 to follow deceitful spirits and the teachings of demons, 

2influenced by the hypocrisy of liars, 

whose consciences are seared with a hot iron.

3They will prohibit marriage and require abstinence from certain foods 

that God has created to be received with thanksgiving

 by those who believe and know the truth.

  4For every creation of God is good, 

and nothing that is received with thanksgiving should be rejected, 

5because it is sanctified by the word of God and prayer.

6By pointing out these things to the brothers, 

you will be a good servant of Christ Jesus,

 nourished by the words of faith 

and sound instruction that you have followed.

7But reject irreverent, silly myths.

 Instead, train yourself for godliness

. 8For physical exercise is of limited value, 

but godliness is valuable in every way, 

holding promise for the present life and for the one to come.

  9This is a trustworthy saying, worthy of full acceptance.

10To this end we labor and strive,a 

because we have set our hope on the living God, 

who is the Savior of everyone, and especially of those who believe. 

11Command and teach these things.

12Let no one despise your youth, 

but set an example for the believers 

in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith, in purity. 

13Until I come, devote yourself to the public reading of Scripture, 

to exhortation, and to teaching.

14Do not neglect the gift that is in you,

 which was given you through the prophecy spoken over you 

at the laying on of the hands of the elders. 

15Be diligent in these matters and absorbed in them, 

so that your progress will be evident to all. 

16Pay close attention to your life and to your teaching. 

Persevere in these things, 

for by so doing you will save both yourself 

and those who hear you.

No Matter What Today Will Bring

 

This poem 'pressed' to the forefront this morning instead

of the pursuit of another.

My prayer is that it will cheer and bless,

and help us as we keep our eyes fixed on a prize

that ought to challenge our motives daily!

No one knows what today will bring

but we do know on Whom we can cast all care

And ask Him to be our strength as we cheer each other on...

1 Pet.5:6-7

Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God,

 that He may exalt you in due time,

 7casting all your care upon Him, 

for He cares for you.

I had fully intended to incorporate these quirky quackers

into today's poem...

I am helping a friend with some gardening this week

and their ducks are an endless source of amusement and delight!

May we all find opportunity to be amazed and awed by

the beauty, diversity and wonders of God's creation!

May we be His hands and feet and pray that 

He helps us hunger and thirst for righteousness

so we may be filled 

And protected from a futile 'chasing of the wind'...

How great our God and King

How wonderful indeed

No matter what today will bring

He will supply our need

Oh, may we not forget

No circumstance can sway

The love and grace that paid the debt

Mortal could never pay

The hope of humankind

Is anchored in the Word

Of He who does not change His mind

His purpose undeterred

He keeps His promises

How wonderful to know

His justice, truth and righteousness

No one can overthrow

Then shout for joy, and sing

God, trustworthy and true

No matter what today will bring

Will care for me and you

© Janet Martin

Songs of May and Morn

It was a weekend of celebrating...

 Grandson's 1st birthday,

 

mothers/motherhood,

and May/gardening...

(helping grandpa plant potatoes)

Grand-sonny preferred planting potatoes to the tedium of planting peas...

When I handed him a little pail of pea seeds he proceeded to pour them into the

furrow rather than place them one by one,

 until gramma showed them how to space the seeds😅

I can't wait for them to begin witnessing the miracle from seed to fruit!

On this note, off we go on a new week rife with life's wonders and woes!

An orchestra of colour plays a melody reborn

To set both earth and heart ablaze with songs of May and morn

The author of all things ignites from minstrels great and small

A hymn of gladness, and invites us to join, one and all

To praise He who is faithful, absolute and wonderful

And eternally able to do the impossible

A symphony of splendor spills from He who does no wrong

It rolls across valleys and hills like a redemption song

To clothe the field with flowers and the tree with leafy sheen

To transform barren bowers with a thousand shades of green

And to remind the creature, awed at what God's love restores

To trust creation’s Teacher who sustains hope’s reservoirs

An invitation steals the show with holy thundering

A celebration peals ‘hello’ and beckons us to sing

In spite of cares we shoulder and the sorrows of this world

God cheers the awed beholder with His handiwork unfurled

And wakes a purer, meeker praise as melodies reborn

Once more set earth and hearts ablaze with songs of May and morn

© Janet Martin

Sometimes my morning worship/prayer/quiet time 

seems like a bittersweet duel between

groaning grief for what feels like 'impossible' prayers

and dumbfounded joy for His awesome Word and handiwork.

...a duel between sorrowful recognition/reconciliation 

of suffering the consequence of a sinful action

and awe for God's abiding faithfulness, kindness, forgiveness, love and grace

***

Isa.26:3

You will keep him in perfect peace,
Whose mind is stayed on You,
Because he trusts in You.

A few recent devotions from My Utmost for His Highest

We Cannot Make Love

Today I am making garden-planting plans!

Other things made this week?

Order from chaos!

Birthday cake and dinner memories...

...and of course, coffee!!😊

We are always making, aren't we?!!

Making plans, meals, order, things, memories, 

coffee...

But, we cannot make love...

And say, 'see, here it is', to set in front of someone

like a trophy to display upon a shelf

We cannot make it like a Thing and say,

'This is a Love'

So, where does love come from;

This 'Thing' everyone needs and can

never get too much of...?

Where is this Fount 

from whence all Goodness flows?

This 'Thing' that never fails,

Only the lack of it...

We cannot make love

Can’t bake it like a cake

Can’t steep it like a cup of tea

To soothe a bellyache

Can’t mold it out of clay

Can't forge it out of steel

To build a bridge to span the gap

Twixt heart-to-heart appeal

Can't cut it from a page

Or order it online

Can't woo it from whispering leaves

Or pluck it from a vine

Or buy it from a shop

Or shake it from a bough

Like red apples in autumn-time

Can't milk it from a cow

Or hatch it from an egg

Or catch it like a fish

Or carve it out of balsam wood

Or mix it in a dish

Or pull it from a box

Or paint it, like fine art

Or compose it with pen and ink

To lure/coax it from a heart

Can't wish it from a star

Or press it from a grape

Or force it from bud into bloom 

Can't knit it like a cape

Or weave it like a mat

Can't earn it by hard toil

Or pour and smooth it like concrete 

Or dig it from the soil

Ah, where can we find love?

High on a dusty shelf?

Or, do we start to find it when

We stop living for Self

Love is life's greatest joy

Love is life's greatest grief

Love is the evidence of God

That triumphs unbelief 

No, we cannot make love

The way we make a pie

Love is the heart/part of God in us

That only fools deny

Nobody has seen God

Only His majesty

Made manifest among us through

The likes of you and me 

Love; oft misunderstood

Love, ink of poet's laud 

The Great Equalizer of boast

Because love is from God

Janet Martin

1 John 4:7-12

Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, 

and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. 

8 Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love. 

9 In this the love of God was made manifest among us, 

that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. 

10 In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us 

and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.

 11 Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. 

12 No one has ever seen God; 

if we love one another, 

God abides in us and his love is perfected in us.

A Very Serious Question or When You See a Pansy Smiling...

 

When you see a pansy smiling

As if this life knew no lack...

When you see a pansy smiling...

Tell me, dear

Do you smile back?

Janet😊💖

This Little Flicker of a Tree

 

Sometimes dread tries to drive a wedge between joy and hope’s promises

Sometimes it tries to trump the pledge of mercy’s renewed faithfulness

Or darken the doorway of dawn with doubt and fear for the unknown

Until I hear the voice of One who whispers ‘You are not alone’

Sometimes the weight of creature care could rob me of would-be delight

Love’s load in constant need of prayer, life’s road a walk by faith, not sight

Sometimes the winds and waves of love could defeat courage thoroughly

Until I am reminded of ‘no longer I, but Christ in me’

Sometimes a formless enemy hisses and kindles vain debate

This liar tries to threaten me with Logic while God whispers ‘wait’

Where sometimes discouragement bends this little flicker of a tree

Until I cry to God who sends angels to minister to me

© Janet Martin

Jer.17:5-8

This is what the Lord says:

“Cursed is the one who trusts in man,

who draws strength from mere flesh

and whose heart turns away from the Lord.

6 That person will be like a bush in the wastelands;

they will not see prosperity when it comes.

They will dwell in the parched places of the desert,

in a salt land where no one lives.

7 “But blessed is the one who trusts in the Lord,

whose confidence is in him.

8 They will be like a tree planted by the water

that sends out its roots by the stream.

It does not fear when heat comes;

its leaves are always green.

It has no worries in a year of drought

and never fails to bear fruit.”

This cross in the sky felt like a tangible whisper this morning!!

Psalm 147:1

Praise[a] the Lord!

For it is good to sing praises to our God;

For it is pleasant, and praise is beautiful.

God's Precious Promises- Dr. Charles Stanley

Of Love's Impending Choices

After a stretch of rain last week

every farmer and gardener is paying close attention

to the condition of the soil with common quest;

"is it dry enough to till and plant?!"

And then we will not heedlessly toss seeds here and there

hoping for the best. 

Planting is done with careful heed,

the eye on its harvest!

Imagine if we kept our eyes on the soil of the soul

and planted with careful precision/decision

with our eyes on the harvest!

Across shorelines of morning mercy’s renewed breakers roll...

Across shorelines of morning mercy’s renewed breakers roll

Where wonderment and warning reanoint cause and effect

Of love’s impending choices soon strewn beneath high noon’s toll

Ere Dusk collects the voices that will waft in retrospect

This is no fickle bower that bends with dawn’s blushing ‘yet’

Today’s brief leaf and flower, metes far more than meets the eye

Where though time never lingers, its swift moment-presses set

What slips through lips and fingers into permanent reply

How sacred is the summons that draws us from slumber’s woo

Where this we share in common; we will reap the seeds we sow

This should give us good reason to pay close attention to

What follows planting season and what soon Harvest will show

Dusk holds far more than lullabies beneath its beckoning 

Morn metes far more than beaming skies beneath its gleaming burst

Where love's impending choices wait to author reckoning

Where soon the Harvest voices what was moment-sized at first

© Janet Martin

Gal.6:7

Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; 

for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap.

There is never an isolated action.

For better or worse

Action yields consequence

Some 'consequences are pure joy

such as...cake!

from this...

to this...

 to this...

to this!

...in almost no time at all!

Now's Love Song or Masterpiece in the Making

Wherever we are at in life, what ever part of the song,

may we learn to trust the Maestro

till the Masterpiece is complete...

My music sheet is a bit messy and paint-splattered  these days...

...hoping to get it a bit more organized today

before a belated birthday supper for Matt tonight!

(finishing this post while waiting for the cocoa-mixture to cool before

I can finish mixing the cake)

Matt's fav; Cocoa Chiffon Cake

This poem niggled beneath my ribs

from drifts of music from noisier

days gone by...

It seeps through heart-shaped holes, through walls weathered and whisper thin

A little like a gong that tolls when dusk is closing in

It gathers missing faces from Bygone’s lost places near

A love song of awareness to embrace the now and here

This is the life. Unfolding not upon yon fairer clime

That morrow is withholding; now is all we have of time

To touch and taste, to hug and kiss, to revel in the thrill

Of a love song we dare not miss as its melodies spill

...while penning lyrics to a tune not fully composed yet

A crescendo of crescent moon, a petal pirouette

A rush of sound and color, a rippling arpeggio

A test of will and valor as we hold, but to let go

A smile-tear-prayer glistened yes-no, a courage-christened leap

Now high, now low, now fast, now slow Now's ballads lilt and weep

To seep through heart-shaped holes, through walls weathered and wonder-worn

Where every gifted half-note tolls with love songs being born

© Janet Martin

Eph.5:15-20

See then that ye walk circumspectly, 

not as fools, but as wise,

16 Redeeming the time, 

because the days are evil.

17 Wherefore be ye not unwise, 

but understanding what the will of the Lord is.

18 And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; 

but be filled with the Spirit;

19 Speaking to yourselves in psalms 

and hymns 

and spiritual songs, 

singing 

and making melody

 in your heart to the Lord;

20 Giving thanks always for all things 

unto God and the Father 

in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ;