Showing posts with label Thanksgiving. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Thanksgiving. Show all posts

Thursday, November 23, 2023

Everlasting Thanksgiving Feast

Happy Thanksgiving to  my American Friends ๐Ÿฆƒ๐Ÿ’–๐Ÿ™
and to everyone because with so much to be thankful for,
every day is a good day for giving thanks

Ps.119:89-91
Your word, O LORD, is everlasting;
it is firmly fixed in the heavens.
Your faithfulness continues through all generations;
You established the earth, and it endures.
Your ordinances stand to this day,
for all things are servants to You.

Jer.31:3
The LORD has appeared of old to me, saying: 
“Yes, I have loved you with an everlasting love; 
Therefore with lovingkindness I have drawn you.

Ps.90:2
Before the mountains were brought forth, 
Or ever You had formed the earth and the world, 
Even from everlasting to everlasting, You are God.

Today is like a table lowered, lavished with a feast...
(Some feast-fragments' that helped inspire today's poem/hymn)

For laughter, glorious laughter to counter life’s lack with cheer
For friends, for cups of tea while mirth and miseries are shared...
(the tea was what I have dubbed Garden Tea, Dried mint, lavender, fennel and marigold)




For hues that tell the season without calendars and such...





Like a place to call home-sweet-home,


 ...like love of families



Today is like a table lowered, lavished with a feast
Into the fray of circumstance mercy’s buffet is borne/born
Once more God bares His loving heart, for greatest to the least
Faithful and true, His grace imparts the majesty of morn
For love’s un-stoppered boundlessness, thankfulness overflows
For promises unaltered by the course of centuries
For smorgasbords of blessing to brighten world-full-of- woes
Like a place to call home-sweet-home, like love of families

For seasons not yet cast in Past’s Big Book of Moments Spent
For hope and joy and peace, by God’s eternal Word, secured
For joy still set before us until time’s frail veil is rent
And we behold the everlasting glory of the Lord
For laughter, glorious laughter to counter life’s lack with cheer
For friends, for cups of tea while mirth and miseries are shared
For wonder’s sheer delight that only God can commandeer
For elixir of poetry as ink-inklings are snared

For flowerpots, for curious tots with lots of questions why
For Duty’s common ground crowned by heaven-wide masterpiece
For the rare afternoon that hangs a hammock from the sky
And bids us climb aboard before dusk snuffs its glorious lease
For nature’s tapestries that awe the soul and stun our gaze
For tranquil woodland wander-lands free from wordy demands
For tea kettles that sing as if this is the-good-ole-days
For humble testimonies uttered my work-calloused hands

For kitchens heady with aromas, we will soon destroy
As we smack lips and scrape and lick dinner platters and trays
For Christmas-time-a-coming and glad tidings of great joy
For heads that bow and hearts that still and spill in thankful praise
For hues that tell the season without calendars and such
For dues that mortal reason will never quite apprehend/comprehend
For more than we can name or tame with thought’s deficient touch
We gather into worship hymns we pray will never end

Where today, like a table is lowered from He who fed
Lord, remind us that it is You who grants our daily bread
Lest we forget, and live as if the feast was self-attained
Behold, today is like a table, love and kindness-graced 
Behold, goodness and mercy flows, for greatest to the least
A smorgasbord of favors and flavors for us to taste  
Like honored guests at an Everlasting, Thanksgiving Feast 

© Janet Martin








Sunday, October 8, 2023

Forever Thankful...

It is Thanksgiving Weekend in Canada!


Happy Thanksgiving 
Wherever in the world you are!
Because every day ought to be a 'give thanks' day!




With less people living at home I have (reluctantly)
scaled back the traditional Thanksgiving Weekend bake-blitz!
Like this and this and this!๐Ÿ’–๐Ÿ˜‹
But!!! not totally๐Ÿ˜…!
One of our dinner-guests today does not eat dessert/sweets.
I am going to do my best to make him wish he did!!
All in good grace and fun!


Col.3:15
Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts,
 since as members of one body you were called to peace. 
And be thankful. 

Isa.25:1
O LORD, You are my God. 
I will exalt You, I will praise Your name, 
For You have done wonderful things; 
Your counsels of old are faithfulness and truth.

For seasons as they bloom then lie
Like fallen leaves beneath blue sky,,,





For seasons as they bloom then lie
Like fallen leaves beneath blue sky
For overflowing flower-smiles
And autumn’s gold and auburn isles
For little girl with little kitten
For mother-hearts so dearly smitten
By beauty’s wonders, duty-wild
That seem to haste to woo the child
From innocence, to dreams to cares
Beneath an umbrella of prayers

For privilege to bear the smart
Of pangs love’s fond farewells impart
For harvest’s air of urgency
Mingling with awed humility
For melodies that slip and sweep
In leaf-shaped notes that none can keep
For health and strength, though should both fail
For hope beyond this troubled vale
If we repent, trust and obey
He who will guide us through each day

For toil’s common ingredients
And spoil that authors reverence
To God, for earth’s fulness thereof
To we, below, from He above
As planted furrow overflows
With bounty His goodness bestows
Through every good and perfect gift
We pluck and thresh, chop, stir or sift
To awe us as we recognize
What mercy daily bread supplies

For comfy chairs and cozy nooks
For cups of tea and love of books
For hands to hold through life’s distress
To fine-tune fervent thankfulness
With joy, much sweeter than before
The test of trouble that we bore
For faith, established in God’s word
For His promises undeterred
May we never forget to raise
A hymn of holy, humble praise

For comfort to rush mortal frame
With truth no scorner’s tongue can maim
That will never be overthrown
Where, though bold foes may boast and lure
Justice and righteousness endure
Through the salvation of the Lord
Therefore we rejoice in His Word
Forevermore; worship resounds
With gladness that transcends all bounds

For reason to review God’s grace
Until nothing is commonplace
Until the best we have to bring
Is love’s breath-by-breath offering
Of adoration and delight
Until desire’s appetite
Hungers and thirsts for things above
(Not cursed with lucre-kindled love)
Until that great and glorious day
When praise will never lose its way

© Janet Martin



From our House to Yours
Happy Thanksgiving...








Saturday, October 7, 2023

Most Humbly Thankful





as we gather
orchards and gardens
into pots and pans
baskets and bowls
it woos a hymn
that overflows
most humbly-thankful 
hearts and souls

Janet~



Ps.100
Make a joyful noise unto the Lord, all ye lands.
2 Serve the Lord with gladness: come before his presence with singing.
3 Know ye that the Lord he is God: it is he that hath made us, 
and not we ourselves; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.
4 Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise:
 be thankful unto him, and bless his name.
5 For the Lord is good; his mercy is everlasting;
 and his truth endureth to all generations.

Friday, October 6, 2023

Foretaste of Forever

Because this is the week leading up to Canada's Thanksgiving Weekend
I've been pondering various angles and expressions
of true thanks-living...

1 Tim.4:1-11
Now the Spirit [a]expressly says that in latter times some will depart from the faith,
giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons,
2 speaking lies in hypocrisy, having their own conscience seared with a hot iron,
3 forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from foods
which God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth.
4 For every creature of God is good,
and nothing is to be refused if it is received with thanksgiving;
5 for it is [b]sanctified by the word of God and prayer.
6 If you instruct the brethren in these things,
you will be a good minister of Jesus Christ,
nourished in the words of faith and of the good doctrine
which you have carefully followed.
7 But reject profane and old wives’ fables, and exercise yourself toward godliness.
8 For bodily exercise profits a little, but godliness is profitable for all things,
having promise of the life that now is and of that which is to come.
9 This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptance.
10 For to this end [c]we both labor and suffer reproach,
because we trust in the living God, who is the Savior of all men,
especially of those who believe.
11 These things command and teach.

Here it is again!!

God's renewed mercy! 

Lam.3:22-23
Through the Lord’s mercies we are not consumed,
Because His compassions fail not.
23 They are new every morning;
Great is Your faithfulness.

Thank-you, thank-you, Lord
May Thy renewed mercy 
kindle faith's renewed delight!

***

Not with begrudging acquiescence
Or forced generosity
May more than pious performance
Emulate sincerity

Not to soothe heart-parts still stony
By fulfilling duty's bid
Or to balance testimony
On an ‘invisible grid’

Nor for the sake of appearance
Earning holy brownie-points
Through meticulous adherence
To religious do's and don'ts   

But with unpretentious pleasure
And with unaffected praise
Storing treasure over treasure
Beyond mortal’s measured gaze

With devotion’s willing labor
May life's unfeigned gladness be
To love God first, then by neighbor
Because of God’s love for me

May Motive's earnest endeavor
With genuine fervor brim
In earth’s foretaste of forever
Bringing all glory to Him

© Janet Martin









Friday, December 30, 2022

A Little Lilt of Everlasting Praise



A little end-of-year reflection of thankfulness
and worship that pray, has barely begun!

Life is a collection of moment-pixels!
Give thanks! 


I confess its a bit of a Poem-blitz today...
a way to keep the wick of gladness trimmed and hope's flame lit, 
where so much sadness threatens to permanently snuff it, 
without reminders of why it never can! 
hallelujah!


Thank-you for sin’s redemption paid through the blood of Your Son
Thank-you for full forgiveness for the wrongs that we have done
Thank-you for Your sweet promise as confession’s sorrows pour
When You forgive our sins, God, You remember them no more
Thank-you for the Lamp of Your Word to light the path of life
Because the throughway to Your throne is full of grief and strife
Thank-you that we have access where the temple’s veil is rent
To come to You, not through a priest but through Your covenant
Thank-you that what this world can never give, You will supply
Your wellsprings of goodness and love will never drain or dry
Thank-you for more than we deserve because You love us so
And nothing here is greater than the grace that You bestow
Thank-you for the true beauty of hope’s unmerited worth
To crown the countless beauties lavishing heavens and earth
Thank-you for what creation spills before our wond’ring eyes
Thank-you for what salvation seals, revealed in paradise
Thank-you for holy purpose in what would be commonplace
But love turns into worship’s joyful gratitude for grace
Thank-you for the gift of Today; where no two are the same
Thank-you that You hear everyone who calls upon Your name
Thank-you that You abide and that You work for our good
And that what we confide in You is always understood
Thank-you for eyes to see and ears to hear, thought to recall
Your precious promises and bounty's blessings great and small
For feet to walk and hands to tend to tasks or fold in prayer
Thank-you that whatever we ask, we know you hear and care
Thank-you for friends and family, for home, sweet home and such
For faces in our memory, we can no longer touch
For Your faithful companionship as we take up our cross
For the gain of your comfort in the pain of our loss
Thank-you that You are with us thus we are never alone
Thank-you, for every stumbling block, there is a stepping stone
Thank-you for food to eat and clothes to wear and work to do
Thank-you that You are absolute, omnipotent and true
Thank-you for what we learn through the bitter rue of mistakes
To humble wisdom's crown we earn as pride’s countenance breaks
Thank-you for gardens out-of-doors or on a windowsill
Thank-you for pups and kittens, for the birds that flit and trill
Thank-you for the raincloud that pours Your answer to our plea
For the wee baby that restores joy in humanity
Thank-you for soft sunshine that warms away cold winter’s gloom
Thank-you for seeds instilled with miracles of bud and bloom
Thank-you for toil’s gracious reward of slumber, sound and deep
Thank-you for vital vim restored after a good night’s sleep
Thank-you for a pricked conscience to rebuke the erring mind
For the refuge of perfect peace that all who trust will find
For Your green pastures and still waters, when courage obeys
For Your goodness and mercy to follow us all our days
Thank-you God for your faithfulness transcending time and place
For hymns made possible because You love vile, human race
Thank-you, oh God, that nothing is impossible with You
No matter what, there is nothing too hard for You to do
Thank-you that You have proven by what death’s tomb could not stay
Your power and Your glory and Your Kingdom now for aye
No army you can defeat You and no evil overthrow
For You have overcome the world, in spite of trouble’s woe
And all who repent and believe, fight a most worthwhile fight
For You will be the One they/we see when faith is turned to sight
Thank-you that You are slow to anger, abounding in love
And for your patient kindness as You chasten and reprove
Thank-you for living hope to spur us onward until we
Together with You Lord, thank you through all eternity

© Janet Martin

Praise the Lord, my soul;
    all my inmost being, praise his holy name.
Praise the Lord, my soul,
    and forget not all his benefits—
who forgives all your sins
    and heals all your diseases,
who redeems your life from the pit
    and crowns you with love and compassion,
who satisfies your desires with good things
    so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.


Thursday, November 24, 2022

Thanks-living Lyric


Happy Thanksgiving to our American neighbors and friends!

For heavens that declare God’s glory age to age to age...


For children in the sweet, fleet sacredness of innocence...


For front porch lights 


and blazing hearths 


and fresh-steeped cups of tea...



For heavens that declare God’s glory age to age to age
Masterpiece after masterpiece ignites awe’s flawless wage

For nature’s law unruffled by the changes progress brings
Beauty’s bounteous coffers charged with Eden’s glimmerings

For children in the sweet, fleet sacredness of innocence
Before the tug twixt right and wrong begins its arguments

For home’s most cherished havens and the love of family
For front porch lights and blazing hearths and fresh-steeped cups of tea

For worth earth cannot grant, but He whose breath of life we breathe
For mirth to plant its laughter where our spirits often grieve

For hope to help us cope with ‘nope’ when we had prayed for ‘yes’
For ups and downs that humble and meeken our happiness

For all the ways we could have erred, but by God’s grace, did not
For mercy’s goodness undeterred though He is oft forgot

For God’s unfailing promises for better or for worse
For dawn, unveiling Today like a gift from heaven’s purse

For faces not yet kissed and wonder not yet tasted, oh
For sadness of farewells hinged to the gladness of hello

For doors waiting to fling ajar on shores beyond our reach
For knowing that right where we are has lessons left to teach

For friendships and for favors, free of charge and fit for kings
Like the trill of a songbird or the thrill new baby brings

For night’s rest from our labours and for neighbors, sweet and kind
For duty’s wealth to guard against snares of an idle mind

For farm fresh eggs and other fine culinary delights
For simple fare to satisfy heartiest appetites

For fresh-ground, fresh-brewed coffee, for the cup of life that brims
With still untasted melodies of still unfolding hymns

For seasons that we sail through, like the twinkle or a chime
Stunning new generations with the olden ways of time

For challenges that teach us to trust more and worry less
For flowerpots on windowsills and tot-anointed mess

For dreams that keep us on our toes/knees and drive impatience wild
For moms and dads committed to the welfare of the child

For unexpected moments that bestow a breathless ache
With bliss we miss when hurry’s flurry sets the pace we take

For faith to face the new year with our faces all aglow
Like children as they dash to play in fresh untrodden snow

For jar shelves laden with collections gleaned from garden fare
For cozy nooks and books when the weather growls like a bear

For flowers, and for bowers bright with fall foliage, for spring
After winter relinquishes its grip on earth’s awning

For treasuring the timelessness of life’s most simple joys
Shared with the cheerful company of little girls and boys

For poetry still wafting in whispers still unsubdued
For more than we can tally when it comes to gratitude

For love's lingering essence like a fragrant curlicue
After the flame is snuffed that flickered with life's me-and-you  

And, (last but never least), for salvation’s security
To make our joy complete despite what was, is and will be

© Janet Martin


For treasuring the timelessness of life’s most simple joys
Shared with the cheerful company of little girls and boys...



For love's lingering essence like a fragrant curlicue
After the flame is snuffed that flickered with life's me-and-you  



Tuesday, October 11, 2022

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





Thursday, November 25, 2021

Thursday Thoughts on Thanksgiving and Hope

Happy Thanksgiving to our American neighbours/friends๐Ÿ’–

It is always touching and inspiring to watch the wonder and joy of children
as the gaze at the babe in the manger...
Pray, as they grow they will never lose the wonder
but come to know the boundless hope and joy
only faith in Jesus can give!



This kind of poem is always hard
to reel in to page-size portions.
someday we will have eternity to sing it; 
no time constraints!

(this can be read as six shorter poems or one longer poem)

When earthen vaults have overflowed
With plant-to-harvest sum
When orchards and vineyards have glowed
With garnet, gold and plum
When once again the land and limb
Is culled of ripened food
Then once again we raise a hymn
Of humble gratitude
For eyes to see and hands to hold
And fold in thankful prayer
For wonders that never grow old
For strength, love’s load to bear
For hope in God’s Supremacy
Who teaches us to trust
His lifeline thrown upon a sea
Of groaning dust-to-dust

***

Upon earth’s hearth scattered with ash
Of autumn’s fallen leaves
Where days are doffed of summer’s sash
Of dusk’s long-ling’ring eves
Where seasons, like a carousel
Spin round and round and round
Where time is like a tolling bell
Where we tread holy ground
Where all we have and hold is lent
And not meant to enslave
Where not one solitary cent
Can cheer us in the grave
Where God who fills earth’s treasure trove
Where bud and seed-gems brim
Upon this hearth we lift our love
In worship-songs to Him

***

From hands bearing redemption’s scars
Where once man’s pardon poured
From hands that established the stars
Hope’s anchor is restored
For on atonement’s cruel cross
Sin’s debt of guilt was paid
By He, who saw beyond his loss
To souls that would be saved
Then, to the God of earth and sky
With selfish heart undone
May endless praise be our reply
For what His grace has won
So when we cross that Awesome Deep
The angels will applaud
For Death will be Victory’s leap
Into the Arms of God

***

Give thanks for He whose love bestows
The blessings grace employs
Where would-be mis’ry overflows
With wonder’s countless joys
No woebegone, bleak hopelessness
In spite of woes that be
But pure and utter thankfulness
For Hope through Calvary
Where horror’s darkest hour wed
With The True Light unfurled
For, from redemption’s fountain bled
Joy’s beacon to the world
And what appeared as death at first
Where hatred seemed to win
Was but the heel that crushed the cursed
And evil wage of sin

***
For fruit of faith and field we sing
With glad and grateful laud
Where the altar and offering
Will prove who is our God
Where we will never be alone
If we believe in He
Who left the glory of his throne
To die upon a tree
Who, Lord of all, suffered life’s loss
Jesus, mighty to save
Obedient, endured the cross
To overthrow the grave
And instill to this toil and strife
Soul’s goal, purposed and true
The promise of eternal life
When life on earth is through

***

*Do not despair; love’s weight of care
Is but the tender price
And in a sense, a little share
Of God’s great sacrifice
Then, when the second mile seems long
And songs are groaned and wept
God’s grace is not inept
But tunes in us the humble cry
Not I, but Christ in me
The Rock upon which we rely
Is hope’s Sufficiency
Then we will let our worship spill
Though dark the glass between
For someday, face to face God will
Unveil what is unseen

© Janet Martin

*this last stanza was written with my cousin Wayne and his family in mind.
What trial they suffer as Wayne's MS continues to try and test,
and forces them into decisions/care arrangements 
love mourns to need to make
๐Ÿ˜ข๐Ÿ™๐Ÿ’”

Luke 2:10-11
Then the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid,
 for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy 
which will be to all people. 
For there is born to you this day in the city of David 
a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. 

It's beginning to look like Christmas...๐Ÿ˜€