Showing posts with label birthday poem. Show all posts
Showing posts with label birthday poem. Show all posts

Saturday, March 9, 2024

Birthday Wish and Blessing...



Happy Birthday, dear daughterπŸ’πŸ’–
We are so thankful for the beautiful, kind and caring person you are!!

The 'baby' in our family is 23!!
Today's splashy weather inspired the first lineπŸ˜‚

For rain, an umbrella...

 

For sunshine, a chair...


For rain, an umbrella
For sunshine, a chair
To set in a soft, yellow
Book-nook somewhere

For joy, lots o’ laughter
For sorrow, a friend
To cheer you long after
Well-wishers disband

For day-to-day prudence
Where options run rife
For we are all students
In the school of life

For spoon full of honey
To sweeten Earl Grey
For just enough money
To teach you to pray

For much to give thanks for;
Happiness and health
For mercy, each morning
For wisdom’s fine wealth

For your cup of gladness
Filled up to the brim
Because of God’s goodness
And wonder of Him

For love to be given
For love to embrace
For love is earth’s heaven
For love is God’s grace

I love you, dear daughter
My heaven-on-earth
God bless you forever
With Love's complete worth

Love, Mom, aka
© Janet Martin



1 Tim. 4:12
Don’t let anyone look down on you because you are young,
 but set an example for the believers
 in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith and in purity.

3 John 1:4
I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth.

Friday, January 5, 2024

Today Twofer ...Cradle of Eternity and Today's Most Estimable Gift

Yesterday we celebrated the child that turned Jim and I into grandparents!

Happy 7th Birthday, Grandson!


Simply being there may look like nothing much
(dear weary, young mother/parent),
 but, is in essence, everything!

Oh, the efforts that may seem to count for nothing here
 but may count for everything There!πŸ™πŸ™πŸ™
By God's grace, keep on.

Above, we simply see a birthday cake!!
 not the baking of it by Very Sleep-deprived mom 
after children are tucked into bed,
We don't see the many, messy, mundane, oops, 
I mean SACRED interruptions/frustrations
 to bring it to fulfillment!πŸ˜…πŸ’“




Technology/screen-time has many negatives in the development of children BUT
this is one of the best positives; being able to laugh and chat with cousins 
over 2000 kilometers away!!




“Children are not a distraction from more important work.
 They are the most important work.”
– Dr. John Trainer
(according to this site, the above quote is misattributed to C.S. Lewis)

Children are by far the most important work!
because...

Beneath the wide, missing-toothed grin
That six and seven year old sports
Beneath Innocent Countenance 
That Time's Insistence soon aborts
 Beneath the sweet Cocoon of Youth
Trembles an Immutable Flame
As irrefutable as Truth
Unthwarted by denial's claim

This truth kindles a deeper look
At faces that we love so dear
At babies nestled in arm's crook
At hugs, as we draw loved ones near
Because, beneath the part we see
Exists the Thing That Never Dies
The Cradle of Eternity
Has missing teeth and eager eyes 

...a-sparkle with dream-giddy stars
Where footsteps that dash wild and free
Are bearing a most sacred charge
The Cradle of Eternity
Because, the part that melts the heart
With the velocity/Curiosity of Youth 
Cradles the soul, that precious Part
That looks to us to teach/tell the Truth 

© Janet Martin

Eccles.12:1
Remember your Creator in the days of your youth,
 before the days of trouble come 
and the years approach when you will say, “I find no pleasure in them"—


I began the poem below yesterday...
Inspired in part by this passage
 (which also helped inspire the above poem) 

For He established a testimony in Jacob,
And appointed a law in Israel,
Which He commanded our fathers,
That they should make them known to their children;
 That the generation to come might know them,
The children who would be born,
That they may arise and declare them to their children,
That they may set their hope in God,
And not forget the works of God,
But keep His commandments;...

from this devotion...

from this book...


Before the poem was completed Eagerness arrived to steal the show with sweetness!

when Little Brother noticed Big Sister about to be the 'star',
he, ever-so-full-of -'innocent'-mischief did his thingπŸ˜‚πŸ˜‚πŸ˜‡

Can't you just about hear his very enthusiastic 'CHE-E-E-ESE!!'πŸ’–πŸ˜…

We still managed one without his shenanigans 
(that keep everyone laughing and pulling their hair out!πŸ˜‚πŸ˜…)


After they left, Gramma needed a nap before
heading out to above birthday celebration!


Today's most estimable part is valuable to know
Though its most vital works of art may never steal the show
It ought to stoke a lion’s roar in hearts of you and me
Because today swings wide the Door of Opportunity

Where what we do with what we have holds more than first appears
The impact of Now’s aftermath fills more than yesteryears
As repercussion of reply unravels in its wake
A footpath forged by you and I, for future feet to take

Today’s most estimable part is sacred to the touch
Though, at first glance its works of art may not appear as much
Beneath the part we see the root establishes the tree
That will, for good or ill, bear fruit for all eternity

Sometimes eternity can feel far off, and quite unreal
Sometimes Impulse can spar and scoff at God’s/time’s/love’s patient appeal
Sometimes, today’s most estimable gift, we hardly see
As God fills up the cup we lift with Opportunity

© Janet Martin

Let's not lose heart by dwelling on
 opportunities lost or missed
but seize the part we build upon;
Now
goodness-glossed and mercy-kissed

Monday, August 7, 2023

The Older That You Grow...(A Birthday Poem for sunset years)

My mother-in-law turned 92 last week.
(below, a glimpse of after supper fellowship)
My dad turns 82 at the end of August.
Yesterday we attended a family reunion; my dad's siblings and families.
My oldest uncle, Dad's brother, turned 85 a few weeks ago,
We were missing a few fondly remembered faces.
One thing we all have in common is growing older day by day!
Let's cherish one another while we still may!

Don't you find, the older you get that below is a glimpse of as-good-as-it-gets? 
Fellowship around a table with friends or family, and a simple refreshment? 
(People cropped, out of respect for privacy.)



The older that you grow, the more we love you, *mother/father dear
Time does not slow but seems to speed up with each passing year
And sometimes we are prone to take for granted the kind grace
That allows us warm handshakes and fellowship, face to face

The older that you grow the more we keep you in fond prayer
And humbly ask God to bestow His kind and faithful care
With extra-tender mercies as the days to years run rife
To cheer you with His Presence in these sunset years of life

© Janet Martin

(*Word father/mother can be switched to aunt, uncle,
sister, brother etc.)

Wednesday, June 7, 2023

A Collection of Conclusions...


My apologies to early readers.
I didn't get a chance to proof read when I posted it this morning
It's quite a process really, the polishing of a poem
and granddaughter arrived just as I hit 'post'...
So to all the head-scratching as you tried to make sense of it all, thank-you!!πŸ˜€

Today I turn 57! What??!! Already?! πŸ˜‚πŸ’—πŸ™

I enjoyed the pleasure of this line in today's poem, yesterdayπŸ’
'A cuppa-tea is priceless when it comes with friends besides'



(...and to each friend on these photos, I am asking forgiveness instead of permissionπŸ˜…)
(a very special day. thank-you!πŸ’—)



I’ve come to the conclusion as the years accumulate
And we collect past’s landscapes in the hollow of the heart
That each day is fresh-laden with mercies to celebrate
Where we are always in the midst of love’s fresh works of art
And always, by God’s grace placed where He fits us for the part

I’ve come to the conclusion, contemplating life’s return
That being kind and patient is the best that we can do
For we all share in common the hurdles of live-and-learn
And we all need a helping hand to see us gently through
Where life’s fumbles and stumbles serve to humble me and you

I’ve come to the conclusion in the rise and fall of days
To dwell on grand illusions of happiness is to miss
The music of a very present harmony/melody that plays
Where voices touch and fade, where hellos harbour farewell’s kiss
Where none of us can keep for long the song simply called This

I’ve come to the conclusion as seasons cartwheel through clocks
That we cannot afford to waste the touch-and-taste time grants
Where the voice that speaks clearest is spoken in how one walks
Where every day runs rife with mercy’s Here’s-a-brand-new-chance
To love; now is that not enough to make us sing and dance

I’ve come to the conclusion that, for all that money buys
The way we expend moments is of greater benefit
A cuppa-tea is priceless when it comes with friends besides
And flowers brought to bedsides bloom best if we sit a bit
I’ve come to the conclusion life is what we make of it

We must choose joy or despair will crush us; we must choose hope
We must be willing to be willing to take change-of-plan-detours
And dream with meek awareness that God ordains yes and nope
And pay holy attention to the harvest death secures
(for everyone will meet He whose justice and love endures)

I’ve come to the conclusion that the tighter that we cling
To what no one can keep, is a futile struggle indeed
But rather every morning at God’s bedside knee, first bring
Life’s praise and sorrows to Him; there He restores the soul’s need
And helps us as we embark with Handful of Moment-seed

I've come to the conclusion (because we reap what we sow)
The older that I get, the more I am utterly awed
By morning's renewed mercy from the One who loves me so
Enough to keep on teaching me to trust His staff and rod 
And grandly glimpse with every breath, the smiling face of God  

© Janet Martin


To You, O Lord, I lift up my soul.
2 O my God, I trust in You;
Let me not be ashamed;
Let not my enemies triumph over me.
3 Indeed, let no one who [a]waits on You be ashamed;
Let those be ashamed who deal treacherously without cause.

4 Show me Your ways, O Lord;
Teach me Your paths.
5 Lead me in Your truth and teach me,
For You are the God of my salvation;
On You I wait all the day.

6 Remember, O Lord, Your tender mercies and Your lovingkindnesses,
For they are from of old.
7 Do not remember the sins of my youth, nor my transgressions;
According to Your mercy remember me,
For Your goodness’ sake, O Lord.

8 Good and upright is the Lord;
Therefore He teaches sinners in the way.
9 The humble He guides in justice,
And the humble He teaches His way.
10 All the paths of the Lord are mercy and truth,
To such as keep His covenant and His testimonies.
11 For Your name’s sake, O Lord,
Pardon my iniquity, for it is great.

Thursday, June 1, 2023

All Aboard (on our way to meeting the Lord)


Happy Birthday, Jim!
A glimpse at his view this morning!
(from New Jersey and New York)


I wonder how many miles Jim has traveled in 37 years of truck-driving!
Today Jim has reached the milestone of 59 years of life!
What a blessing, not to be taken for granted!
 
Whether viewed over the hood of a truck or otherwise,
the scenery of our lives is as varied and diverse as the journeys,
Some reject the Conductor, others revere and love Him, but
all will appear before Him when we come to the end of life's journey,
where one of two eternities awaits;
 forever with Him or forever separated.
With Him= forever joy, life and light/Day.
Without Him = forever anguish, death and darkness.

Mark 16:16
Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, 
but whoever does not believe will be condemned.

***

All aboard, cries the Conductor as the new-born baby cries
As the first breath births life’s journey of the Soul that never dies
From He, who our days has written before one has come to be
From God, the Giver and Taker of fleeting mortality
Courses the measure of moments, tick by tock its torrent flows
Forcing the child soon to grapple with the thorns beneath the rose

All aboard, cries the Conductor at the portal of sunrise
Rife with life’s inevitable ups and downs of lows and highs
Subtle carousel of seasons spins, and spills what soon is spent
My, how sacred is our answer to He who life’s lease has lent
Where love is His utter reason, while faith musters flying leaps
No passenger is forgotten in the promises He keeps

All aboard, cries the Conductor. Only He/God can see the whole
How near is the final station/Destination where dust is brushed from the Soul
Thus, we at the faithful mercy of God’s goodness, truth and grace
Ought to ponder oft the moment when we meet Him face to face
Careful in how we maneuver every hill and hairpin curve
For this is how we will prove who we believe and who we serve

All aboard, cries the Conductor, as onto dawn’s car we climb
Where today some will be ushered from This Thoroughfare of Time
Thus, we should regard with honor every opportunity
To be loving to each other, fellow travelers are we
Until one by one each swaying, Soul-hinged pendulum is stilled
As each day of grace, prewritten has been offered and fulfilled

Hark, across Time's landscape tolls the holy call of, 'all aboard!'
On this very sacred passage, on our way to meet the Lord

© Janet Martin

Psalm 139:14-16
I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
your works are wonderful,
I know that full well.
15My frame was not hidden from you
when I was made in the secret place,
when I was woven together in the depths of the earth.
16Your eyes saw my unformed body;
all the days ordained for me were written in your book
before one of them came to be.

Sometimes when Jim calls me
he is parked at a railway waiting for the train to pass...




over the years there's been a lot of this...
(exchanging empty thermos and lunch-bag for full)



Thursday, March 30, 2023

Of Arms and Hearts (or, They Grow So Fast)

 It feels like we just did this but we did it again...celebrate granddaughter's birthday!!




They grow so fast we sigh, as seasons fly through arms and hearts
Where none can tame the twinkle in time’s eye or change its ways
The child soon tries its wings, tugging on strings that love imparts
While teaching us to treasure the fleet measure of Todays
For time is never idle; none can tame or bridle clocks
Childhood’s tower of make-believe soon tumbled by hard knocks

They grow so fast we cry, while milestones make us laugh and weep
Robbing us of ready reply when we try to explain
Love’s gladness that runs rife with sorrow for what none can keep
Where each wee babe soon tests the play of love’s parental rein
The brief heaven of innocence soon startled by a Voice
As the gavel of consequence falls on the heels of Choice

They grow so fast we say, and pray the Lord their souls to guard
With angel armies, for this world is full of deadly snares
Where soon our arms are lowered and the garden gate unbarred
And off they go; but never out of reach of tender prayers
Or the eternal cradle-dear, that no child can outgrow
The heart that keeps them near no matter where their feet may go

© Janet Martin 


Grand-daughter's 'prince' freeing the princess...


Found the sweet poem above in this book!








Thursday, March 2, 2023

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 joyπŸ’πŸ’—

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!!πŸ˜‚πŸ’–


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!'πŸ˜‚πŸ˜‚πŸ˜‚


Today's story...



Psalm 127:3
Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord,...

Thursday, January 5, 2023

A Few of the Reasons Why I Love You

Happy 6th Birthday, Grandson!


Yesterday marked six years since Jim and I became grandparents!
(yes, the hockey game was on during the celebration!)πŸ˜…

When I was a little girl the high-light of turning six
was the dearly anticipated mommy-box 
(mommy pronounced with a short 'e' at the end:
    the word for 'gramma' in Pennsylvania-Dutch) 
I decided to surprise Grand-sonny and start the tradition too.
Now his sister will have the joy of the anticipation! 
A momme-box consists of a calendar-picture-pasted box
(like a shoe-box)
filled with treasures hidden in popcorn!




The inside also holds nuggets of wisdom and treasures from God's Word!
(bigger version of writing at the bottom of this post)



Sister was DELIGHTED... a treasure with her name on itπŸ’


Baby Brother had no idea what was going on but it sounded fun so he joined in the joy too😘


I love you little lambkin with a sparkle in your eye
Or tell me, did a cherub softly flutter from the sky
To burst our hearts with happiness and remind us once more
As long as there are babies, life is worth the living for

I love you little tot with crinkled, freckle-sprinkled nose
As curious as a puppy and as pretty as a rose
A perfect blend of innocence with mischief woven through
To remind us, where there are tots, there’s lots of laughter (and hair-pulling groans) too

I love you little girl and boy eager to learn to fly
You startle love’s parental joy with discipline’s oh-my
Teaching mommy and daddy to talk to God every day
(Because)
As long as there are children there will be reason to pray

© Janet Martin


Below are a few pictures of my momme-box
(Long time readers of this blog have seen it before but not for a while)
received on June 7th, 1972
With a few treasures that came in it...





 

Thursday, November 24, 2022

Forever Young

 



This cage of wants and hopes and dreams will age, as wear and tear
Will take its toll where aches and pains will make us more aware
Of what has always been this way; time’s play of groan and grin
Will scrawl its telling empathy on/in envelopes of skin

The best and worst of blessed and cursed will keep no form intact
Time’s sleight of hand adept at disclosing matters of fact
Yet cannot touch the much more meaningful and precious part
Where love and thankfulness can keep us ever young at heart

© Janet Martin

For the Lord is good and his love endures forever;
    his faithfulness continues through all generations.

Tuesday, November 1, 2022

Happy 80th birthday, Mom

 

With the circle still unbroken,
(Mom and Dad and all ten children with our spouses,)
our 80th birthday celebration for dear Mother on Sunday
was precious indeed!

Numbers 6:24-26
The LORD bless thee, and keep thee:
25The LORD make his face shine upon thee, and be gracious unto thee:
26The LORD lift up his countenance upon thee and give thee peace.


The laundry lines you filled would reach up to the moon and back
And we could build skyscrapers with dishes, washed, dried and stacked 
The meals, prepared with thoughtful, loving labor, by God’s grace
Would humble us immensely if gathered into one place

Thank-you mom, for your diligence in ‘training up a child’
While we outgrew dresses and shoes, while days-to-years ran wild
While we would laugh and work and play and learn to humbly pray
To our Father up in Heaven to guide us each day

You taught us how to find joy in earth’s beauty, grand and free
Though busy you were never blind to God-penned poetry
You showed us (not just told us) when there was a task to learn
You took the time to read or pause to watch the seasons turn

You never did complain (or if you did I don’t recall)
A helpmeet for your husband and a mother to us all
With love enough to go around with never one left out
Love was the priceless plenty we never had cause to doubt

What happy days of childhood from heedless innocence slipped
From ‘now I lay me down to sleep’ to prayers without a script
From ‘Goodnight, yes, I’ll leave the hall light on, at least for now
(Unless the talker talked too long and laugher laughed too loud!)

Dear mom, I want to thank you, for too often I forgot
And simply took for granted tasty meals, healthy and hot
And work-worn hands that did not eat the bread of idleness
But tended to duty’s demands with cheerful faithfulness

I’m thankful for God’s love that has allotted eighty years
‘The multitude of sins’ you covered with your prayers and tears
And for the treasured memories that sparkle in a trove
Where surely the greatest of these is our sweet mother’s love

I pray each day for God to bless and keep you in his care
That come what may you sense the power of His presence there
I thank Him for the gift of a mother who read His Word
And let us by example with devotion undeterred

Happy eightieth Birthday, may the year ahead be blessed
With God’s mercies and if He wills, with health and happiness
Happy eightieth birthday, as your numbered days decrease/increase
May they be overflowing with God’s love and joy and peace

© Janet Martin

Psalm 71:18
Now also when I am old and grayheaded,
O God, forsake me not;
until I have shewed thy strength unto this generation,
and thy power to every one that is to come.

Psalm 37:25-26
I once was young and now am old,
yet never have I seen the righteous abandoned
or their children begging for bread.
26They are ever generous and quick to lend,
and their children are a blessing.

Psalm 90:12
Teach us to number our days,
that we may gain a heart of wisdom.