Showing posts with label failure. Show all posts
Showing posts with label failure. Show all posts

Monday, April 11, 2022

Road to Glory...


"God made me good at golf and
I want to glorify him with this gift"




“God is in control and the Lord is leading me, 
and if today is my time, then it’s my time, 
and if I shot 82 today, somehow I was going to use it for His glory."

a few favorite moments...(proud wife)

...and caddy


savoring the sweetness of the moment 
and the support of many fans and family


In the writer's digest poem-a-day challenge
Yesterday's Prompt was write a taste poem
This poem could be entitled 
The Power of Perseverance or
The Sweet Taste of Success

This poem could be about a private, personal challenge or
The fight to faith's finish-line!
So I settled on the title 
Road to Glory

Because the glorious sweetness of success's trophy always casts a shadow;
the bitter cup of dreams dashed (for now)
Cameron Smith acknowledges appreciative applause from fans
after a disappointing finish...

This poem was written with him in mind as well
as well as all of us who
have tasted, in varying degrees, 
the bitter draught of disappointment!


The pleasing flavours/favours of success
Somehow become more sweet
When hope’s hurdles to happiness
Have been honed by defeat

Sometimes we win, sometimes we lose
Life’s course of ups and downs
Refines endurance with its dues
Of crosses before crowns

The hard knocks of ‘not yet’ beget
If we do not give up
After the challenge has been met
The sweetest victor’s cup

Defeat is not the finished fight
But just a stepping-stone
To test the mettle of the might
Of more than skin and bone

Sometimes what at first glance may seem
Like failure and regret
Is but the beauty of a dream
Not quite accomplished yet

Then keep the faith; this is the rite
Before we realize
Where what once seemed a bitter fight
Was sweetening the Prize

© Janet Martin


Shout out to Corey Connors (a former local)
 from proud Canadian fans!

Eric Liddell, when being reprimanded by his sister 
for neglecting his responsibilities before God 
as he devoted his focus toward competitive running, responded,
 “I believe that God made me for a purpose. 
But He also made me fast, and when I run, I feel His pleasure .”

In whatever form it takes
May we all 'run' to feel God's pleasure!
So someday we may exclaim triumphantly

2 Tim.4:7-8
I have fought a good fight,
I have finished my course, 
I have kept the faith:
 Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, 
which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day:
 and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing.



Wednesday, April 14, 2021

Of Weathered 'Would'

 

Weathered wood flaunts fresh foliage...


just as weathered 'would' unfolds fresh faith!

We try to turn the other cheek
To think twice, thrice before we speak
To make the most of More with less
To simplify our happiness

When life holds up to trembling lips
Its Cup of Joy, we savour sips
Where delight and despair compete
To cull a vintage, bittersweet

We work to win a well-earned rest
With good intent we strive for Best
We pray, we till time’s teeming sod
We plant, we wait; no ‘late’ with God

We wage wars twixt wonder and want
We struggle with faith’s feathered font
We try, but every now and then
We trip and need to try again

Inhale deeply, then exhale, slow
One foot forward, ah, here we go
Not crippled by Discipline's rod
But bolstered by the grace of God

From weathered wood/would fresh bud is borne
From Bygone's bloody bars, new morn
From slip and trip's face-planted low
We learn the little that we know

© Janet Martin


Phil.3:12-14
"Not that I have already attained, or am already perfected; 
but I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me. 
Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, 
forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, 
I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus."

Tuesday, July 14, 2020

To Incognito Athletes...


 My cousin Wayne, (mentioned here) 46 years old and bed/chair ridden 
because of MS and the loss of part of a leg in a farm accident,
 is one of the most valiant 'athletes'
I have ever met!

Also, another one of my faithful readers
is suffering immensely because of a fall 6 weeks ago and now some added complications!
She was admitted to the hospital last night and is feel physically and emotionally at her limit!
Will you pray for Jan R., for healing, strength and encouragement?

Will you pray that they (and we) may be faithful
in the fight to the finish! 
Because no one can predict who will cross the finish line first!!!


Philippians 3:14
I press on toward the goal to win the prize 
of God's heavenly calling in Christ Jesus.


Failure and success are like competitors in a race
And it is hard to tell sometimes which side the favor lies
We tend to measure success by position or by pace
But the One at the finish line sees beneath its disguise

I’ve seen a shadow of a man put ‘better men’ to shame
Humility is something that collects no accolades
But rather gives full credit to a Greater Worthy Name
Knowing our time on earth is like a bloom that quickly fades

I’ve watched one bedridden yet beating ‘great athletes’ by smiles
Surrender is a hard fought thing until we fully yield
And it is not always the one who boasts the most in miles
But he who knows that soon the inner man will be revealed
 
Failure and success are not always what they may appear
The road we see runs through a veil that ends the wend of Time
Beyond the slope where hope vies with the sigh of now and here
To the Reward after the race and its arduous climb

Not all who run will win a Prize; then pray and pray and pray
Lest we become distracted by the way faith’s rivals run
And test the spirit lest by decoys we are drawn away
And miss the most beautiful prize of these two words ‘well done’

© Janet Martin

...and then today's devotion fit right in to the topic!! 







Friday, February 15, 2013

The ABC's of Life




If we have taught them how to be
Astronauts or
Bridge-builders or
Composers or
Doctors or
Engineers or
Farmers or
Governors or
Home-makers or
Intellects or
Judges or
Kings or
Landscapers or
Mothers or
Nurses or
Optometrists or
Presidents or
Queens or
Receptionists or
Scientists or
Teachers or
Undertakers or
Veterinarians or
Writers or
X-ray technicians or
Yoga instructors or
Zoo-keepers
…without first teaching the love of God
We have failed.

© Janet Martin

The devotion I read this morning reminded us how important it is that we, as parents reflect the love of God.







Friday, November 2, 2012

Of Failure and Friends





No one begins at failure
Failure is nobody’s goal
So we ought to encourage each other
And not be so critical

We all need a shoulder to lean on
Love does not boast or gloat
Iron sharpens iron
It is not a blade against the throat

Nobody is a failure
Who among us has not fallen?
We should reach out to each other
Helping the feeble and burdened

Failure is not a destination
But simply a stepping stone
And we all need each other
Nobody should struggle alone

No one begins at failure
And failure is not an end
We all ought to encourage each other
And simply be a friend

© Janet Martin

Last night at my mom's birthday celebration my dad encouraged us to, as parents, never to give up or dwell too long on our failures but to keep the faith and keep on keeping on.

Why is it so easy for us to believe in failure rather than success?
Failure is a rung on life's ladder. I'm contemplating the definition of failure this morning.