Showing posts with label recompense. Show all posts
Showing posts with label recompense. Show all posts

Wednesday, September 21, 2022

Established Evidence

Gen.1:11-12

And God said, Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, 
and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, 
whose seed is in itself, upon the earth: and it was so.

12 And the earth brought forth grass, and herb yielding seed after his kind, 
and the tree yielding fruit, whose seed was in itself, after his kind: 
and God saw that it was good.

Gal.6:7-9
Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.
8 For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; 
but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting.
9 And let us not be weary in well doing: 
for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.

A grower's chief delight is the fruit and bloom laden plant!
At harvest, as the fruition of labor fills orchards,
gardens, vineyards and fields with yield,
it stirs humble, holy awareness, once again
to the sacredness of planting season!

I am so happy the farmer next door planted soybeans in the field beside our property.
For years this field was a grazing pasture for cattle,
but the new owner keeps his herds inside and so for the first time
since we live here (33years) I have enjoyed the evolving beauty of soybeans close-up!















...and last but not least, Today!


We will reap what we sow
The tree, known by its fruit
Choice-seeds that fall do not stay small
But soon take sacred root

Oh God, you are not mocked
Stir in our hands and hearts
The imminence of recompense
That harvest time imparts

Where the spirit and flesh
At constant odds, contend
With what we sow, for it will grow
Tis futile to pretend

Because the seed reveals
The essence of its kind
Thus, what we plant is what will grant
The harvest that we bind

Ah, even as we reap
Seeds fall; God, help us see
With reverence the evidence
Of fruit upon the tree

© Janet Martin

p.s. a reader just mentioned hopefully I will get a picture of the harvest to complete the circle! 
I sure hope so!


Luke 6:44
For every tree is known by its own fruit.
For men do not gather figs from thorns,
nor do they gather grapes from a bramble bush.

Thursday, September 1, 2022

Once Upon Many a Wistful Morrow (have been here and gone)

Happy September!!!


And to Adam He said:
“Because you have listened to the voice of your wife
and have eaten from the tree
of which I commanded you not to eat,
cursed is the ground because of you;
through toil you will eat of it
all the days of your life.
18Both thorns and thistles it will yield for you,
and you will eat the plants of the field.
19By the sweat of your brow
you will eat your bread,
until you return to the ground—
because out of it were you taken.
For dust you are,
and to dust you shall return.”

Gen.3:17-19 (BSB)

We have toiled 'by the sweat of our brow', haven't we?!!
And Lord willing we are not done yet!
And we have eaten, haven't we?!
Thank-you, gracious Heavenly Father!

While not everything may have bloomed, obedient to expectation's hope, 
as we planted seeds, seedlings, and bulbs,
we are thankful for what often exceeds hope and expectation! 

From Fancy's Dream of a plethora of colorful dahlias....

to bushy reluctant bloomers 


that buried the planters until I moved them


From barren field with dust flying to a sweep of golden butterfly-like flutters...

From blank canvas....


...to our Creator's Masterpieces!!



A reflection and reply to this poem from May...


Spring's Wistful Morrow-World, my dear, has now been nearly spent..
Its planted plot and furrow unfurled in fruit-testament
Hope, giddy with spring's fantasy of flowers, bears the yoke
Of disappointment and delight; for blooms are not bespoke
And so we choose to cherish what was granted, midst withheld
Before the present perishes as past and future meld
Where we, all struggling students 'neath the tutelage of God
Are learning patient prudence, for no hand can force a bud
Or undo, what in Eden, routed man's eternal rest
As Eve and Adam doubted and put God's Word to the test
Where the infested ground we till still yields to human race
The bread we eat, the flower frill, like emblems of God's grace
Where, though spring's Wistful Morrow may not unfold as we planned
We know both joy and sorrow's plume are cradled in God's Hand

© Janet Martin

And the sunrise was no slouch either!!!




The last pic in my spring post made me a bit teary...


These tots seem so much bigger already!




Sunday, November 29, 2020

Down the Road, So Thankful Then...



Inspired by my friend's comment about the effort it takes to get a family photo done!
She said' Surely we'll be thankful to have them, down the road!'
Her words impacted me with the thought of how often struggle and effort is
for something 'down the road we will be thankful for'!



For all the times we didn’t take the easy way, for where it led 
And suffered loss for Jesus’ sake to look after the poor instead 
And did not follow after what indulges pleasure’s endless thirst 
Because it did not imitate the example that Christ set first 

For all the ways we failed, yet did not fall prey to the doubter’s lies 
But confessed our sin and then once more pursued the Runner’s Prize 
And threw off all that hindered us; the sin that easily besets 
Fixing our eyes on faith’s Author and Perfecter, and not regrets 

For all the times ‘Thy will be done’ required surrender’s hard parts 
And sacrifices no one knew but He who knows our heart of hearts 
Way down the road (or near at hand, ah, who can tell) when we look back 
So thankful then, for all the times He kept us through the foe’s attack 

So thankful then for hope that did not make ashamed the love whereby 
God poured his Holy Spirit into us in trustworthy supply 
So thankful then to hear Him say ‘well done’ as humbly, joyfully 
We worship evermore the One who said, I draw all men to Me 

© Janet Martin 

(this next little poem also inspired by another friend's remark a few days ago
about trusting the Author and Perfecter of our faith...
and I realized often
The author is easy to accept/trust, but oh, 
the Perfecter; we cannot begin to fathom His ways!

The Author of our faith we gladly acknowledge is God 
But the Perfecter, this is where He tests the faith we laud 
The Author we embrace and hail the grace whereby we go 
The Perfecter; His ways we do not understand or know 

The Author gave His Son to save us from just judgment’s wrath 
The Perfecter (or finisher) tries words with Real Life’s path 
Where both blessing and hardship play a very vital part 
In proving through response who is the Lord God of the heart 

© Janet Martin 

Does our faith dare to utter the prayer of Habakkuk in Habakkuk 3

v.2  Lord, I have heard of your fame; 
 I stand in awe of your deeds, Lord.
Repeat them in our day,
in our time make them known;
in wrath remember mercy...

v 16 I heard and my heart pounded, 
my lips quivered at the sound; 
decay crept into my bones, 
and my legs trembled. 
Yet I will wait patiently for the day of calamity 
to come on the nation invading us. 
17 Though the fig tree does not bud 
and there are no grapes on the vines, 
though the olive crop fails 
and the fields produce no food, 
though there are no sheep in the pen 
and no cattle in the stalls, 
18 yet I will rejoice in the Lord, 
I will be joyful in God my Savior. 

19 The Sovereign Lord is my strength; 
he makes my feet like the feet of a deer, 
he enables me to tread on the heights. 








Monday, May 25, 2020

Of Pains and Gains...


 A weekend full of stressful oh-nos and happy-yeses...
oh the pains whereby we gain experience!

What will today bring; no one knows
but this...the unfailing grace whereby man goes.
Hallelujah!


Now break of day strums strings of gray and wakens hymns of blush and gold
Where what has not yet come our way will soon turn into days of old
Once more to man time is deployed in breath by breath spans, mercy-fired
Life grants so much to be enjoyed and yet leaves much to be desired

The pain that gains experience oft-times does not explain its whys
The rugged road to recompense is filled with hills of sundry size
They keep us on our toes and knees while pressing upward, left-foot-right
A winsome Thing that comes and goes where thorn and rose pricks and delights

Life’s bumps and blows seem to expose the simpler, sweeter joys and such
The somber tones the Painter chose (we never would) highlights His touch
And when we look back on the track we thought begot an unfair score
We start to see with clarity so much more to be thankful for

© Janet Martin


 From the ends of the earth I call to you, 
I call as my heart grows faint; lead me to the rock that is higher than I.
Psalm 61:2


Sunday, December 1, 2019

A Something-to-Remember Sonnet on A Stormy Church-cancelled Sunday Morn...



 Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows.
Gal.6:7
We reap what we sow, but we never see the full impact of the harvest!
Many who follow reap what we sow as well...


We leave behind, with grit of daily grind
Strewed on time’s path, the aftermath of choice
In ebb and flow of yes and no entwined
Where death may steal our breath, but not our voice

As consequence and recompense reply
Though you and I lie stilled in Bygone's glade
They grapple with the apple of hope’s eye
And wrestle on a trestle that we laid

This thus should stir in us a sacred quest
To consider more than the score of Now
For what seems small soon falls prey to the test
That tries the ties that bind us to time’s plow

Where what we sow will grow, then while we sleep
Beneath earth’s sash of dust and ash, they reap

© Janet Martin



Saturday, December 15, 2012

As a Man Thinks...





We ought to give more earnest heed
To the measure of our thought
As a man thinks, so he will be
The hand by the mind is taught

We ought to give more earnest heed
Lest carelessly we let slip
The remembrance that each deed
Is more than a vaporous drip

We ought to give more earnest heed
To its recompense of reward
For surely what I have said
I will do, saith the Lord

We ought to give more earnest heed
To the things which we have heard
And plant the mind with seed
Gleaned from God’s sacred word

© Janet Martin


What are we feeding our minds and our children’s minds?