Showing posts with label love. Show all posts
Showing posts with label love. Show all posts

Saturday, March 16, 2024

Oh My God, Since Thou Art With Me

When I am tempted to despair
God bids me lean on Him in prayer
There He tramples the enemy
As He whispers His peace to Me


The world may sometimes seem like a different place
 than in 'the good, old days'
 but it isn't really. Evil has always been evil 
and God has always been faithful and good!

1 John 4:4
Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them:
 because greater is he that is in you,
 than he that is in the world.



Ps.18:2
The LORD is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer; 
My God, my strength, in whom I will trust; 
My shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.




Oh my God, since Thou art with me
Thou who givest life its breath
Thou who walked the way to Calv’ry
Thou who bore love’s cross, to/through death
Thou, whom death could never conquer
Thou, whose Name grants hope its goal
Thou, the Victor of grave’s plunder
Thou, the Saviour of the soul
Thou, who satisfies Want’s hunger
Through Thy everlasting word
Thou, who fits us with faith’s armour
Thou, whose will is undeterred
Thou, who orchestrates each season
Thou who numbers all our days
Thou, whose ways transcend our reason
Thou, whose love never betrays
Thou, who never will forsake us
Thou, whose promises secure
Thou, whose favor longs to make us
More like Thee; holy and pure
Oh, my God since Thou art with me
To commune and commandeer
Thou, whose Light transcends death’s valley
What have I to dread or fear?

Oh, my God, since Thou art with me
Thou who suffered for my sin
Thou whose blood out-poured, redeems me
Thou, whose Spirit dwells within
Thou, my Comforter in sorrow
Thou, my fortress, come what may
Thou who bidst me not to borrow
Morrow’s troubles for today
Thou who cheers me in the struggle
Thou, who guards me from despair
Thou, who is my help in trouble
Thou, who hears my earnest prayer
Thou, whose purpose will not falter
Thou whose power will prevail
Thou, who beholds worship’s altar
Thou, whose Ransom will not fail
Thou, who receives my confession
Thou, Forgiver of sin’s shame
Thou, who keeps no record of them
To crush joy with guilt or blame
Thou whose Goodness overwhelms me
Thou whose mercy overrides
Oh my God, since Thou art with me
What have I to need besides?

Oh my God, since Thou art with me
Thou who holds Time in Thy hands
Thou, Cradle of eternity
Thou whose Supreme Say commands 
Thou, whose Provision is perfect
Thou, whose judgments never err
Thou, who is changeless in edict
Whose love is beyond compare 
Thou, who stepped from Heaven's glory
To be sin's Atonement Lamb
Author of Salvation's Story
I AM who I say I AM
King of Kings and Lord of Lords, yet
Thou, Redemption's Once-For-All
Thou, who broke the curse sin beget/begot  
Thou, who saves us from The Fall
Thou, who did not spare His body
But with selfless sympathy
Put on flesh, became nobody
Suffered in all ways, as we
Thou, who rent the veil to ritual 
Thou who saves us by His grace
Oh my God, since Thou art faithful
Who could ever take Thy place? 

© Janet Martin



John 17:3
And this is life eternal, 
that they might know thee the only true God, 
and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.

Psalm 100:5
For the LORD is good; his mercy is everlasting;
 and his truth endureth to all generations.

Psalm 93:2
Thy throne is established of old: thou art from everlasting.

Thursday, January 25, 2024

Candlelight Contemplation...

 Matt.5:14-16

“You are the light of the world.
 A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden. 
15 Nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lampstand, 
and it gives light to all who are in the house. 
 Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works 
and glorify your Father in heaven.

Letting love's light shine is easier said than done, isn't it?!
For just perhaps, when we think we're not faring too badly
along comes a sudden human-nature storm/retaliation
to remind us how mean and feeble we can be without
The True Light to light our little 'candles'

John 1:1-5
In the beginning was the Word, 
and the Word was with God, 
the Word was God.
2He was with God in the beginning.
3Through Him all things were made, 
and without Him nothing was made that has been made.
4In Him was life, and that life was the light of men. 
5The Light shines in the darkness, 
and the darkness has not overcomea it.

Candlelight is such a gentle picture of love;
the way its glow warms and cheers the dark!
To keep a candle burning properly proper care must be given,
(such as trimming wicks etc.)
An example for us to examine our candle 
before we carry into Today!



To keep alive the light of love it must be fueled by the Source
We, on our own are not enough to fit love for its tender task
So, when we sense love’s flicker dwindle in the face of mean discourse
God will be faithful to rekindle love’s kind candle if we ask

Because we are so prone to bicker when we do not quite agree
The ready tongue is sometimes quicker than love’s reigned-in bark or bite
So, when the rumpus of a ruckus tries love’s sweeter sympathy
If we but ask Him, God will help us to steady love’s candlelight

So then, to keep love’s candle burning and to be less self-inclined
Means a consistent, conscious turning to love’s Faithful Uttermost

© Janet Martin




Monday, January 8, 2024

Living Life To The Full or What a Way To Live!!


No matter how successfully
We gain grandiose boast
If we fail on the scale of love
We fail what matters most

Nothing can take the place of it
No matter who/where we are
In every goal that we pursue
Love sets the highest bar

***

If we ask ourselves if we are loving people I am sure we all
would like to think we would say Yes! Of Course I am loving...
1 Cor.13 puts our quick replies to the test, doesn't it?!!


1 Cor.13:3-5
If I give all I possess to the poor 
and exult in the surrender of my body,a
 but have not love, I gain nothing...

Love is patient, 
love is kind. 
It does not envy, 
it does not boast, 
it is not proud. 
It is not rude, 
it is not self-seeking, 
it is not easily angered, 
it keeps no account of wrongs...


Every day is a test...a love-test, isn't it?!!
It's not hard to love the people and things 
nearest and dearest to our hearts๐Ÿ’๐Ÿ’–๐Ÿ’•

Hockey-lovin' brothers...






...but what about the vast rest of it?!!
This is my personal challenge today,
 and only for today
because what's the use of straining toward yesterday, 
or tomorrow?!
Life always happens, to all of us
Today!

No matter who or where we are
How fast or slow we climb
To all alike, life sets love's bar
At ‘one day at a time’

No matter how we fret and fuss
Or trust in God, or balk
He doles life’s toll to each of us
In measures of tick-tock

No matter what, we cannot haste
Or slow the steadfast surge
That runs us through with touch and taste
Where past and future merge

Whether the gale is soft or gruff
Whether we push or pull
God fills each day with quite enough
To live love to the full

So, no matter what Today's spree
May scatter in its wake
It will be worth it all if we
Make love its highest stake 

© Janet Martin

'What's that word?' asked Granddaughter.
'What does it mean?' after I told her the word.
It means 'to treasure' I told her, like right now,
 I cherish time with you๐Ÿ’–


Cherish the easy loves, for sure, but don't ignore the rest!
Maybe a resolution to refresh at this New Year??

sharing this cherished moment from yesterday...

I baked these rolls; 30 min. Dinner Rolls in the afternoon for
sloppy joes for supper.
While prepping supper my oldest grandson 
was SO hungry so I buttered 1/2 a roll for him
and off he hasted downstairs to where his siblings were playing
smacking his lips ๐Ÿ˜‚๐Ÿ’–
no surprise, his sister appeared and I gave her the same and off she went1
Chuckling, I grabbed my camera and waited...not very long!


...around the corner came youngest tot, not for a moment
 questioning whether he would get one too




Friday, December 1, 2023

Above All (Else)

Jim (my husband) called while I was struggling 
through the middle of the third stanza of today's poem, 
and in the course of conversation he remarked 
that he's driving through a stretch of the north 
that always feels like forever to get through!!
I told him 'thank-you!! that imagery was exactly what I needed
 to give this poem steam through the middle of it!
(Jim is a great conversationalist and I've written many a verse whilst conversing, 
or, he converses and I interject an occasional 'ugh-huh')๐Ÿ˜…๐Ÿ˜‚๐Ÿ’–

The initial inspiration of this poem was sparked after I came home last night
 after enjoying dinner at my daughter's home and getting a first-hand reminder 
of the end of day endurance tests when children are tired and parents are too!
Hang in there, parents of little children! 
it really is worth every lackluster labor of love!
Hang in there mother/daddy that feels like you walk or rock, 
rather than sleep the night away!
Hang in there, engineer of eighteen wheels. 
And we will soon welcome you to warm home fires, Lord willing! 
Hang in there, dear daughter-son-parent-spouse etc, traveling home after dark 
after spending precious time with a loved one in a long term care facility or hospital! 
Hang in there, husband and wife whose marriage ties seem strained to breaking point! 
God is love! 
Love never fails!

***

I couldn't help but chuckle at the amplified tranquility
of our house after we returned home last night.
That forever-stretch of raising youngsters,
as I look back feels more like a silk scarf
that slip-slipped through my fingers and disappeared!
only Victoria and I left to decorate the tree
while listening to Christmas music...
bittersweet!!
(for her and me)




Above all else, though duty’s dues may seem common and small
And in the grand scheme of pursuits, not very grand at all
Where no corporate ladder hails to scale with eagerness
And no plaque or trophy regales accomplishment’s success
Where no one notes the unsung skills of mundane ministry
Or celebrates the daily drills of domesticity

Above all else, no matter how we view Duty’s reply
It is not what but Who we do it for, not where but why
Then, in our search to satisfy fulfillment’s siren call
We find, to our surprise, a One-size Reason that fits all
For we will find the kind of wealth that always grants Enough
When what we do, above all else, is a labour of love

Love is enough to make remarkable, the commonplace
It transforms life into a miracle of joy and grace
It equips us to weather what loveless motives reject
For, ‘stretches of forever’ are so brief in retrospect
The miles that seem mundane, thankless, a mess of prayers and tears/fears
Soon meld into the counterpane of yester-days-and-years

Love instills wonder, thrills the things of modest recompense
It fills the world with whirring wings we cannot see, but sense
Because angels of mercy travel on the common beat
Clad in workday apparel; their wings look like hands and feet
As love fills with thunderous applause, each care-worn mile they trod
For above all, love is the wondrous evidence of God

Above all, let love carve a sacred crucifix within
Above all, fix faith's sight-scarred gaze, on the image of Him
Upon a cross, a cross that should have been for you and me
He bore love's brutal albatross to show how love should be
So, lest love grows ungrateful when love seems impossible 
Remember, love is faithful and will triumph, above all

© Janet Martin

1 Cor.13:4-8
Love is patient, love is kind. 
It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 
5 It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking,
 it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 
6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 
7 It always protects, always trusts,
 always hopes, always perseveres.
8 Love never fails.


Saturday, November 11, 2023

Freedom's Price is Steep


If only we only took time
to humbly and kindly love
If only we lived as if we believed
That what God/love gives is enough

***

Until we change our ways to God's ways, 
war will not change its ways

***

I have shared these excerpts from Peter Marshall's Sermon
The American Dream, a few times before
But truth is timeless!


The phrase below could just as well be read 'we in Canada' ๐Ÿ˜ฅ๐Ÿ™



Freedom’s price is steep where after-effects run deep; their loss, our gain
Freedom is never free, but a hard-fought and blood-wrought cross of pain
Love, the greatest command never fails; but kingdoms rise and fall
When leaders turn away and disobey God who is Lord of all

The Author and Authority of love is long-suff’ring and kind
Without Him we are a pathetic case of blind leading the blind

Until we love the Lord our God with all our heart, soul, strength and mind
Freedom will fail. Travail of war will scream, blood red, dread’s streams unwind
God’s light shines on great darkness; a darkness that does not comprehend
The love of He who sets us free; whose death purchased life without end

If only we would take to heart the wage of disobedience
And would fear God, and love His Word, not treat Him with indifference
For ‘unto us a child was born, One whose kingdom will never cease
His Name, Wonderful, Counselor, the Mighty God, the Prince of Peace

Freedom’s price is steep where after-effects run deep; His loss, our gain
Freedom is never free; His cost, a love-wrought, blood-bought cross of pain
Love, the greatest command never fails; great nations rise and fall
And will until all fear and believe in He who is Lord of all

© Janet Martin

Isa. 9:6
For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: 
and the government shall be upon his shoulder: 
and his name shall be called Wonderful, 
Counsellor, 
The mighty God, 
The everlasting Father, 
The Prince of Peace.

More timeless truth from Jeremiah 






Who is wise and understanding among you?
 Let him show by good conduct that his works are done in the meekness of wisdom.
  14But if you have bitter envy and [h]self-seeking in your hearts, 
do not boast and lie against the truth. 
15This wisdom does not descend from above, but is earthly, sensual, demonic.
  16For where envy and self-seeking exist, confusion and every evil thing are there. 
17But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, 
gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, 
without partiality and without hypocrisy. 
18Now the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace 
by those who make peace. 
James 3:13-18









Friday, September 8, 2023

The Driving Force of Love...


Vain, ah vain is love's faรงade
We try to maintain, without God
Futile, futile, its driving force
Until we recognize love's Source

It is impossible to deny God yet claim to love...

1 John 4:7
Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God.
 Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God.
 
The 'brutal honesty' of the book
leaves no stone unturned in life's journey,
(after we have confessed the name of Jesus)
often challenging the reader with realizations of what 
we may try to gloss over or ignore!!!

These below are no exception!



The driving force of love challenges you and I
Because its evidence will prove love cannot tell a lie
Though noise of bluff and boast can put on quite a show
Who we love and honour the most is bound to overflow
Into life’s daily grind of want and sacrifice
The driving force of love will find a way to pay the price
….for love comes with a cost that love alone pursues
Love is no thoughtless penny tossed with nothing much to lose
Oh no, love always takes to give; this is the part
That will reveal, by how we live, whose love reigns in the heart

© Janet Martin

1 John 2:15-17
Do not love the world or the things in the world.
 If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 
16For all that is in the world—the lust of the flesh, 
the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—
is not of the Father but is of the world. 
17And the world is passing away, and the lust of it; 
but he who does the will of God abides forever.

2 Tim.3:1-5
But know this, that in the last days [a]perilous times will come:
 2For men will be lovers of themselves,
 lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, 
disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, 3unloving,
 [b]unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, 
brutal, despisers of good, 
4traitors, headstrong, haughty, 
lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God,
 5having a form of godliness but denying its power.
 And from such people turn away!





 


Friday, May 12, 2023

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!!๐Ÿ˜Š


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.

Saturday, May 6, 2023

Simply Profound


Happiest of Weekend to you
as you/we rediscover and explore 
the eternal wonder of 
Love,
making worthwhile 
every mile
every smile, 
every tear, 
every task
And stunning us 
with so much more
Than we could think of ask
-ing for...

This not-so-secret ingredient
makes mundane 'musts' an honor to perform
Suddenly because of love
joy takes the heart by storm
as wonder wakens worship
and worship begins to brim
turning the very common chore
to hallelujah-hymn 

Today's chores include potluck prep for
tomorrow's lunch...





It makes the sacred difference
In everything we face
The action and the consequence
Humbled and honed by grace

It heaps the heart with thankfulness
And softens Want’s reply
With a replenished happiness
That money cannot buy

It sweetens would-be commonplace
And purifies intent
And tunes the motive in life’s race
With awe and compliment

It is simple, yet so profound
Cheering pauper and king
It turns time into holy ground
And sweetens suffering

...because its joy runs rife with pain
Yet none can get enough
Of what none can fully explain
The greatest of these; love

© Janet Martin

Love equips/compels us to willingly walk
where without it, we would not

1 Cor.13:13
And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; 
but the greatest of these is love.

2 Cor.5:14-15
For the love of Christ compels us, because we judge thus: 
that if One died for all, then all died; 
15and He died for all, that those who live 
should live no longer for themselves,
 but for Him who died for them and rose again.

Friday, March 17, 2023

Law/Awe of Love


There is nothing glamorous or sensational 
when it comes to humble, faithful obedience.
Look at the cross!!
No wild applause praises the Living Sacrifice.
Often it is not beautiful to behold!
Yet, only careful, diligent obedience to His commands 
makes manifest our declarations of love for God


Today as in the days of Moses, the condition of 
God's blessing remains the same...
James 1:25
But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it,
 and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, 
this one will be blessed in what he does.

How can His Word be in our mouths and hearts? 
By familiarizing ourselves with it/Him.
How do we do that? Only one way.
By spending time in his Word/with God.
then what happens?
More love for Him.
An awe-struck love
 yielding a willing, humble obedience!
for we serve best/most what/who we love best/most

How often I/we fail!!
but oh, pray failure will not drive us to despair
but rather to repentant prayer, to confess our sins
to He who is faithful and just to forgive them 
and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
1 John 1:9

...and then, re-impacted with awe for God's grace, on we go,
not in lawless living but in the law of liberty/love!


Re-impact us with awe
Impress upon our hearts
The wonder of the law of love
That serving You imparts

Renew our minds, oh Lord
So, we may test and prove
The righteousness that will confess
The perfect law of Love

The law that binds love's wounds
The law of liberty 
The law that stands on the commands
Of old eternally 

Delight us with your Word
And thus, complete our joy
With the increase of hope and peace
That nothing can destroy

With heart and soul and mind
Let love’s agenda be
Diligence in obedience
With glad humility

Re-impact us with awe
For love’s redeeming vow
And the reward we press toward
When at Thy feet we bow

…when at Thy feet we bow
By utter awe undone
The mysteries of Your grace and love
Unveiled around Thy throne

© Janet Martin


Romans 2:13
For it is not the hearers of the law who are righteous before God,
 but it is the doers of the law who will be declared righteous.

Romans 8:2
For in Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life 
set you free from the law of sin and death.

The chaos, confusion, and curse of disobedience
(lack of reverence and love for God) 
speaks for itself
๐Ÿ’”๐Ÿ™๐Ÿ˜ข