Showing posts with label self-control. Show all posts
Showing posts with label self-control. Show all posts

Wednesday, September 9, 2020

Mouth-control

 Pleasant words are like a honeycomb, 
Sweetness to the soul and health to the bones.
Prov.16:24

😊
 
Swallow hard and bite your/my tongue
Harsh words swift-spewed live so long
Breathe a prayer and count to ten
We all need grace now and then 
And soon you/I will be so glad
For sharp replies left unsaid
Where a bit of mouth-control 
Is like sweetness to the soul
 
© Janet Martin

Tuesday, January 14, 2020

Mind-setting


 Our mind is the control tower of our life!
Dr. Charles Stanley

Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things.
Col.3:2
 
To set our mind on things above
Does not come naturally, it seems
Each sacred, soul-anointed glove
Must learn to bridle idle dreams

How easily the mind can stray
And if we do not rein it in
We might get lost along the way
In pitfalls veiled in flints of skin

The by-and-by that all will brave
Ought to make us more love-inclined
We are either servant or slave
To one master; that of the mind

Therefore we ought to give more heed
(This applies to both old and young)
To what we feed this mighty Stead
That moves our hands and feet and tongue

Thoughts whispers are quick to beguile
With whims Want is quick to applaud
This momentous causeway, Meanwhile
Is all that stands twixt man and God

The mind is kind of like a trove
The treasure that it seeks to hold
Will set its sights on things above
Or be bamboozled by fool’s gold

© Janet Martin


Saturday, November 16, 2019

Free Reign/Rein




 PAD Challenge day 17: For today’s prompt, take the phrase “Free (blank),” replace the blank with a word or phrase, make the new phrase the title of your poem, and then, write your poem.

When thought breaks bounds of order and is given full, free rein/reign
It finds our greatest weakness glaring like a crack of light
The lure of feeling’s fancy trolls a dark and dangerous vein
Craving's belly growls with an insatiable appetite

When want, the author of Excuse’s Fine Soliloquy
Stamps longing with approval, driving discernment amuck
The mastermind of mayhem, dressed in fool’s-gold finery
Seduces us with images of opulence and luck

When thought, ungoverned roams footloose and feckless as the dust
It leads us into places even angels fear to tread
The idle mind, a playground for the lawlessness of lust
The hunger in its hollow raving mad, though fed and fed

When thought, not taken captive wanders where it should not go
It falls prey to the enemy bent on ruin and loss
Where we all would be finished, but for He who loves us so
And guards thought through subjection to the power of the cross

© Janet Martin


 The weapons of our warfare are not the weapons of the world.
 Instead, they have divine power to demolish strongholds.
 We tear down arguments, and every presumption set up against the knowledge of God;
and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.
2 Cor.10:4-5

Monday, August 6, 2018

Because We Are Our Brother's Keeper...

 
Whether walking where the water washes sand-prints away,
Whether sprawled in a chair or bed-ridden,
Whether wearing flip-flops or The Original Muck
We leave footprints never fully hidden

 ***
 Lest the blood/mud of another's downfall stains our hands, 
we should think before we drink!

 ***
Every alcoholic started with 'one harmless drink'

 ***
"Just because I can control myself after one drink doesn't mean that someone watching can. 
Imagine if  the word 'no' when offered a drink saves someone else from a life of addiction 
and all the awfulness attached!
No amount of momentary pleasure is worth opening the door to another's lifetime of heartache!" 
~My dad~
***
"I like it!" said Eve and gave some to Adam...and he liked it too!
Good-bye Eden!

***
But Daniel resolved not to defile himself with the royal food and wine, 
and he asked the chief official for permission not to defile himself this way.
Daniel 1:8

***

We might think it won’t matter, once
Just a quick slip from the path
To taste a sip from  'Sly One's Sconce’
But oh…the aftermath

cause  someone tells someone who tells
Someone who tells one who
Thinks if 'we' did then he/she would like
To try it ‘just once’ too

He finds he likes the taste so well
He has two, three and four…
And now Desire burns like hell
With a thirst he can’t ignore

…and now the one who tried it once
Unscathed, watches one cursed
Glass after glass, he drinks and drinks
But cannot quench his thirst

© Janet Martin



 Below, a few excerpts from
James MacDonald;
Walk in the Word Message entitled

The Bible does not require total abstinence,
but it recommends it as the highest and best course, filled with the greatest wisdom.
I believe it is a choice which you can be most proud of when you stand before the Lord Jesus Christ.

... It is a loving choice. As you grow in your faith, you discern that you make choices
 not because of what is best for you, but by what is best for others.
The Christian life is not all about you—what you can handle,
what you can control, what’s nice for you.
The Christian life is for others.  We don’t live to ourselves.

... As a follower of Jesus, if you’re not sure it’s right for you to drink alcohol,
then it’s wrong for you to do it even if it isn’t wrong....


There is nothing more devastating than a life (SO much potential!) destroyed by addiction!

Saturday, April 12, 2014

Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde





Tonight there were two of me inside
...Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
Strange tug-of-war like spring-winter-north-south
Laughter and growl juxtaposed in my mouth

Sometimes sweet spring is what I want to say
But out comes the wrath of a wild winter’s day
While family chuckles, quite amused as I toss
Burnt pans to the counter-top, feeling quite cross

Some days are blossoms of violet and rose
Some bear the brunt of our unspoken woes
Two forces battle and we must decide
Between Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde

I hope if you ask my children someday
Whom I most resembled they’ll be quick to say
‘Mostly Dr. Jekyll, easy-going, good-lookin’
But all Mr. Hyde when she burnt the cookin’…

© Janet Martin

Trying to have a little fun with more than one failure today;(

There are few things that rile me like burnt cooking and baking so I was ranting at myself as I pulled almost burnt granola bars from the oven after supper. (I was going to take them out mid-supper but of course, forgot all about granola bars as we enjoyed baked chicken, baked-potato wedges, green beans and coleslaw)
I was in the middle of a rant at myself when Matt taps me on the shoulder…’sh-h! here is the phone and I’m not sure who it is!’
Oops!! I switch to ‘hello…oh, hi, how are you doing?’ in my most cheerfullest trying voice and I heard one of the kids say. WOW! Mom’s Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde!!

The worst part is that I couldn’t tell that person I was raging at myself…this is a lesson for Mother to try to be self-controlled and moderate no matter what…sigh.
…so now we have granola bark instead of granola bars ‘cause they were too hard to cut.

Today’s Saturday muffins are Carrot-raisin-nut. My fav’s.