Showing posts with label sunrise. Show all posts
Showing posts with label sunrise. Show all posts

Wednesday, February 21, 2024

Sunrise Symphony

The past few mornings we are being treated
 to being greeted by
much appreciated welkin symphonies
after a long stretch of gloomy daybreaks!


An introduction starts to play from welkin symphonies...



An introduction starts to play from welkin symphonies
It fills the threshold of Today with thrilling harmonies
As melodies of blush and gold unfold the hailing sphere
While we, with rapt’rous gaze behold night’s shadows disappear

We lift our eyes above the stage of trouble’s wage unfurled
To feast upon the music page God hoists above the world
To bow on morning’s grandstand with stutter-uttered ‘oh my’
And join the worship anthems no lyrics can satisfy

Hope celebrates its anchor as pink hallelujahs peal
Joy’s chipped cup runneth over with mercy’s refurbished zeal
Faith transcends fear’s foreboding as welkin symphonies spill
To drown dread’s dismal goading with thunders of ‘peace, be still’

Exaltation’s hymn overflows before our lifted gaze
The introduction crescendos and sets our sights ablaze
Earth and sky’s voices coalesce, they cannot be ignored
In the Beauty of Holiness we worship you, oh LORD

© Janet Martin

Exaltation’s hymn overflows before our lifted gaze
The introduction crescendos and sets our sights/hearts ablaze...

Psalm 96:9
Oh, worship the LORD in the beauty of holiness!
Tremble before Him, all the earth.


 

 

Saturday, January 6, 2024

Reproached Reticence or Grand Command

The sunrise the other morning commanded exaltation
to the God of all creation!!







I pause. 
I do not want to taint 
Perfection with my verse
and yet, 
a sense of pink ink thunders, 
as if to immerse
the part of me that poetry 
always gets the best of;
a need to pen 
an awed and meek amen,
to God above
with love. 
Whose wordless eloquence 
never ceases to rouse
an image of glory, before/beneath 
which every poet bows
to pour, with pure intention, 
utterance, 
however flawed
...to heed His invitation 
to exalt 
the name of God

...thus, I approach dawn's burning bush
to hear His Voice resound
With grand command,
'take off thy shoes
for this is holy ground'

© Janet Martin



Therefore God exalted Him to the highest place

and gave Him the name above all names,

10that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,

in heaven and on earth and under the earth,

11and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord,

to the glory of God the Father.




poem in traditional form...


I pause. I do not want to taint Perfection with my verse
and yet, a sense of pink ink thunders, as if to immerse
the part of me that poetry always gets the best of;
a need to pen an awed and meek amen, to God above
with love. Whose wordless eloquence never ceases to rouse
an image of glory, before/beneath which every poet bows
to pour, with pure intention, utterance, however flawed
...to heed His invitation to exalt the name of God

...thus, I approach dawn's burning bush to hear His Voice resound
With grand command, 'take off thy shoes for this is holy ground'

© Janet Martin


Tuesday, March 28, 2023

Rad Glory




I began this poem at sunrise...
then the day took over...
Off to a local meat shop first thing,
to take advantage of their annual sausage sale...
stopping for a few photos along the way...




...then grandchildren came for a while to entertain gramma😂💖


What is it about a gate/fence/barrier that instantly draws curiosity
of all ages, even babies?!!


 
Grand daughter borrows gramma's sunglasses for a better look at the clouds...


It all started when she spotted the one on the first photo,
 a billowy, pillow-y one and wished she could jump in it


Now, after the last round of sausage is on to steam,
(Yes! I water-bath-can sausage!)
back to what began almost today-ago 😅


Where the heavens are flung
With profound clarity
A Voice of universal tongue

His awesome evidence
(That only fools deny)
Thunders with untold testaments
From earth and sea and sky

…to confound creature boast
To humble human hearts
As wonder wows Want’s uttermost
With what God’s hand imparts

Hark! Ere the dark of night
Dissolves, the morning rings
With feathered, unfettered delight
From choristers with wings

Both mighty and minute
Astonish and enthrall
Until only fools dare dispute
The One who authored all

Creation stuns the eye
And kindles joyful due
To join the throngs of earth and sky
With songs of worship too

Buds, primed with petaled proof
Pulse with glorious laud
While sorry fool still holds aloof
The rad glory of God

© Janet Martin

 (Using the word 'rad' today, in its most sacred sense!)

WORDS RELATED TO RAD -DICTIONARY.COM



Psalm 14:1
The fool says in his heart, “There is no God.” 
They are corrupt, their deeds are vile; 
there is no one who does good.




Friday, February 17, 2023

Like Glimpses Through a Gate


Psalm 16:11
You will show me the path of life; 
In Your presence is fullness of joy; 
At Your right hand are pleasures forevermore.


The thrill of February spring was short-lived,
...as was the clean up from previous ice-storms, 
 We woke to a world ensconced in nature's glitz!

How oft the Creator consoles
Earth's happiness, so full of holes...





February is always a struggle for me, poetically-speaking, 
and this February is no exception, so emotionally demanding/draining
 with so much local trouble and sorrow,
not to mention globally!
But hallelujah,
 God Was, Is, and Ever Will Be in perfect control!

We walk by faith, not by sight!
2 Cor.5:7


How oft the Creator consoles
Earth's happiness, so full of holes
Where grief exacts love’s bitter thorn
As dreams are dashed and hearts are torn
…and then the morn heaps hope’s buffet
As mercy’s masterpieces splay
Like glimpses, through a gate ajar
Where everlasting pleasures are

How often our faith could be
Disillusioned by tragedy
This, but part and parcel of Time
Tethered to weathered season-chime
Where rhyme and reason could dismiss
God’s goodness with betrayal’s kiss
Until, like glimpses through a gate
He reminds us of joys that wait

How often we could lose our way
If we relied on logic’s say
Where wise and fool alike concede
Man’s days are few and full of need
But, the best this world can demand
Pales, compared to God’s Promised Land
Glimpsed through a gleaming gate, agape
With impressions of its landscape

How oft the poet’s flound’ring prayer
Could yield to pirates of despair
Where unholy taunt plunders thought
And steals joy with blessings forgot
Until God opens downcast eyes
To impact us with sweet surprise
Unveiled, like glimpses through a gate
Where worship’s endless pleasures wait

How oft life's weight of care could wage
A war that nothing could assuage
Without more than this world can host
Of temporary toast and boast
Hoisted between eternities
A flail of mortal agonies
While glimpses through yon Gate remind
The man of the soul's transient rind 

How oft the Creator consoles
Earth’s happiness, so full of holes
With glimpses of Heavenly Hills
From whence our Help and Comfort spills
To cheer us onward in the flight
Of walking by faith, not by sight
Until Yon Gate eclipses grace
And glimpses become face-to-face

© Janet Martin

Psalm 121:1-3
I will lift up my eyes to the hills—
From whence comes my help?
2My help comes from the Lord,
Who made heaven and earth.
3He will not allow your foot to [a]be moved;
He who keeps you will not slumber.












Saturday, January 14, 2023

Ode to a Sunrise


It must be memorialized;
the first sunrise of 2023!!





gold floods the waking world
welkin wealth spills and swells
like a glimpse of heaven unfurled
to crown earth’s hills and dells

a fervent friendliness
kindles ageless romance
hope dons the humble happiness
that bids the heart to dance

as morning laughs and sings
and makes us feel so fine
creating castles fit for kings
with glorious sunshine

...the fog-sullen rampart
dissolves; earth held at bay
Is unveiled like a work of art
Entitled Sunny Day

...a vaulted coffer tips
a dazzling surf of stars
across dawn's common ground that drips
from the Artist's paint jars

© Janet Martin


Sing unto him, sing psalms unto him: 
talk ye of all his wondrous works.


Psalm 96:1
Sing to the LORD a new song; 
sing to the LORD, all the earth.


Psalm 143:5
I remember the days of old; 
I meditate on all Your works; 
I consider the work of Your hands.

The Lord is righteous in all His ways,
Gracious in all His works.

One of my favorite hymns by one of my favorite artists!!
Thankyou David Wesley!




Wednesday, December 14, 2022

A Prayer-Poem of Hope and Praise



The magnitude of this morning's sunrise 
was impossible to capture in the lens of a camera...

A little like God's goodness and love 
are impossible to capture in
the lines of a poem!

Dear Heavenly Father,
A prayer-poem of hope and praise!

From strength to strength in You
Sweet consolation this
Whatever valley we pass through
Whatever grief afflicts
Whatever tries joy’s cup
Whatever storm we face
From strength to strength, You bear us up
By your sufficient grace
Where nothing in this world
Transcends Your love so true
Like a majestic Light unfurled
To guide us home to You

© Janet Martin

Psalm 84:5-7
Blessed are those whose strength is in you,
    whose hearts are set on pilgrimage.
As they pass through the Valley of Baka,
    they make it a place of springs;
    the autumn rains also cover it with pools.[d]
They go from strength to strength,
    till each appears before God in Zion.

Wednesday, November 24, 2021

Heaven's Overflow



Psalm 113:3
From the rising of the sun to the place where it sets, 
the name of the LORD is to be praised.


This November we are treated to one spectacular sunrise/sunset after the next...
this Never-Before-Seen sunrise is happening right now!! (or was when I started this post)


Honey! Says Mr. Very-Extra-Matter-of-Fact to me whenever
I am over-rapturously rhapsodizing at heavenly declarations.
'there have been skies forever, with many a sunrise and set.
This is nothing new!!'
and I reply Yes!! but, that's the beauty of it!
This is new! 
No one has ever seen this sunrise/set before!


This is the Beauty of each and every day...
always new!
Like God's mercies every morning!

Lam3:22-24
Through the Lord’s mercies we are not consumed,
Because His compassions fail not.
They are new every morning;
Great is Your faithfulness.
“The Lord is my portion,” says my soul,
“Therefore I hope in Him!”



A tremor on celestial strings...
Who knows what will unfold
On music sheets from welkin springs
Of magenta and gold

Where, wonder of all wonders, He
Who measures dust of days
With original Majesty
Not one sunrise replays

The Beauty of the Lord is such
No daybreak can deplete
Beneath His unparalleled touch
He never hits 'repeat'

But breathes upon the dark of dawn
Mercy's latest release
Beneath the charge of Hope's baton
A brand, new masterpiece

A brand, new day the Lord has made
For His Name to be praised
Beauty is like a love-song played
To keep Faith's gaze amazed

Then, lift your eyes unto the hills
That hang from heaven's gates
And join the worship hymn that spills
For God knows what yet waits

Sunrise, sunset, again, again
As long as grace bestows
The music bars for love's refrain
As Heaven overflows


Janet Martin









Tuesday, November 23, 2021

On Living The Gift


This is the day the Lord has made;
we will rejoice and be glad in it
Psalm 118:24








(the circumference of the brilliance of this sunrise was almost full circle!!

It’s so much more than merely left-foot-right-foot-left-foray
This life we live so much more than moment-metered decay
So much more than an unrewarded leap of say-and-do
This life we live is what we give to God when it is through

It’s so much more than toast to boast about what we achieve
These steps we strew behind become the legacy we leave/weave
Then, as the door to One More Day swings stunningly ajar
May we remember by Whose grace and love we go, and are

It’s so much more than grin-and-bear-it, tick-tock-morn-to-night
Or touch-and-taste’s burgeoning tray of distress and delight
This is the day the Lord has made and as its mercies brim
We live the gift we give to God when we return to Him

© Janet Martin

Here are twenty-one beautiful verses on 'living the gift'!

Eph.5:1-21

Therefore be imitators of God as dear children. 
2 And walk in love, as Christ also has loved us and given Himself for us, 
an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling aroma.

3 But fornication and all uncleanness or covetousness, 
let it not even be named among you, as is fitting for saints; 
4 neither filthiness, nor foolish talking, nor coarse jesting, which are not fitting, 
but rather giving of thanks. 
5 For [a]this you know, that no fornicator, unclean person, nor covetous man, 
who is an idolater, has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God. 
6 Let no one deceive you with empty words, 
for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience. 
7 Therefore do not be partakers with them.
Walk in Light

8 For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. 
Walk as children of light 
9 (for the fruit of the [b]Spirit is in all goodness, righteousness, and truth), 
10 finding out what is acceptable to the Lord. 
11 And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather [c]expose them. 
12 For it is shameful even to speak of those things which are done by them in secret. 
13 But all things that are [d]exposed are made manifest by the light, 
for whatever makes manifest is light. 
14 Therefore He says:
“Awake, you who sleep,
Arise from the dead,
And Christ will give you light.”
Walk in Wisdom
15 See then that you walk [e]circumspectly, not as fools but as wise, 
16 redeeming the time, because the days are evil.

17 Therefore do not be unwise, but understand what the will of the Lord is. 
18 And do not be drunk with wine, in which is dissipation; but be filled with the Spirit, 
19 speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, 
singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord, 
20 giving thanks always for all things to God the Father 
in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, 
21 submitting to one another in the fear of [f]God.

...then it began to snow...

...and the sun disappeared

into a snow-globe swirled world!