Showing posts with label today. Show all posts
Showing posts with label today. Show all posts

Thursday, March 14, 2024

Through the Means of Today


"That our sanctification did not depend upon changing
our works, but, in doing that for God's sake which we commonly do for our own.
That it was lamentable to see how many people mistook the means for the end,
addicting themselves to certain works which they performed
very imperfectly, by reason of their human or selfish regards...."

by Brother Lawrence



We ought to pay close heed
To dawn’s gift on display
Because of where its moments lead
Through the means of Today...



Some folk I have outlived
And some will outlive me
Through the means of Today, a gift
God grants mortality

The tally of the sum
Of Today-shadows cast
Are like flickers that will become
My life, when life is passed

The breath that holds the soul
At bay, someday will cease
The means of getting to the goal
Will expire its lease

We ought to pay close heed
To dawn’s gift on display
Because of where its moments lead
Through the means of Today

The means is not the end
The ‘seen’ will soon be through
Let’s live as if Today could rend
The veil between the two

…where there is no release
To what none can outlive;
The end begins what cannot cease
And God alone can give

Oh, pray we bear in mind
Far more than dust of clay
In grave-strewn worlds soon left behind
Through the means of Today

© Janet Martin

Ps.107:8-9
Oh, that men would give thanks to the Lord for His goodness,
And for His wonderful works to the children of men!
 For He satisfies the longing soul,
And fills the hungry soul with goodness.

Sharing some morning robin and finch cheeriness!
(in between traffic noise!)







Thursday, February 29, 2024

Of Tomorrow's What-We-Had (Today)

Happy Birthday, Leap Year 'babies'!!


The other morning dawn drew back night's shutters with a spectacular, balmy 'hello'...



...but there was something sort of ominous in its unseasonably warm temperatures 
and billowy thunderheads.

And small wonder! A thunder-hailstorm was brewing!!






Yesterday we woke to still-mild temps but by
the afternoon the mercury plummeted and frigid gales meant business!



And so, winter is back...



but not for long!


But whatever the weather, let's celebrate Today because
it will never be again!

Time offers no rerun
Today's burgeoning sphere
Of 'nothing new under the sun'
Is temporary, dear
 
Whatever today grants
Where dawn kicks up its heels
Is but a one-time song-and-dance 
That twilight always seals/steals 

Then rejoice and be glad
Whatever fills today
Will be tomorrow's 'what-we-had'
Before it slipped away

© Janet Martin

So far 'what -I-had' consists of sweet morning with grandsonny...
(it never gets old; bird-watching or watching tots watch birds😘)



...and lunch with daughter, providing the perfect excuse for a sumptuous salad!
I dubbed it Leap-Day Celebration Salad!



Leap Day Celebration Salad

3 cups oven-roasted or air-fried butternut squash cubes 
tossed with olive oil salt and pepper, and pinch of parsley flakes 

Rinse one cup quinoa
Strain in sieve.
Bring to boil in 2 cups water.
Reduce heat enough to keep it simmering.
Cook uncovered till water is gone
then turn off and cover for 5-7 min.
Fluff with fork.
Add a drizzle of olive oil, salt and pepper
a few cloves of fresh-pressed garlic.

cool quinoa and squash 
then place desired amounts on a bed of
your choice of greens.
Top with 1/2 pomegranate seeds,
(thinly sliced/diced apple or pear can be sub.)
1/3 cup feta cheese
1 tbsp. toasted sesame seeds
I small red onion finely chopped and 
mixed with 2 stalks celery finely chopped

Toss and serve with a dressing of
2 tbsp. fresh lemon juice
1 tbsp. olive oil
1 tbsp. veg oil
2 tbsp. honey or maple syrup
11/2 tsp. balsamic vinegar
(or 1 tsp. white vinegar and 1 balsamic)
bit of crushed dried parsley (optional) 


Wednesday, January 24, 2024

Sense of Sacredness aka Today!


If a family dinner get-together with my parents
and all ten of us kids and our spouses, all present,
and a slideshow of over 700 photos playing throughout the day
of us, our children and grandchildren, great-grandchildren
does not evoke a sense of sacredness to seemingly commonplace moments 
as they run through our fingers, I don't know what will!
That happened on Sunday.

This week, as ordinary as it appears, nothing is!
This morning as a new Today tumbled over earth's eastern edge,
not in any kind of colorful fanfare, but more like a wet, gray dog...
(or mourning doves)😂

I was again, struck by how this monotonous momentous collection of mornings
 eventually composes the song of Lifetime!

So I put a card in the mail for an old neighbor turning 90 this week,

I revived the fire, 

I continued working at organizing, cleaning and tidying the basement 


after stacking wood ..

...before two of my grandchildren came for a few hours...
(while big Brother gave the dentist a bit of a challenge. ahem😐.)



I washed the dishes after a lunch they half-ate


...all the while with a heaven-hinged sense of sacredness
in what at first glance definitely looks quite ordinary! 


It wafts from welkin wombs to where we live-laugh-love-weep-pray
To settle soft, where dusk entombs its season-sequenced play

It sparkles from a single source no needle can exact
An all-encompassing discourse that leaves no one intact

It tunes the timbre of a toll that rolls o’er land and sea
While drawing the cart of the soul back to eternity

Steeping the sacred commonplace with so much to hold dear
As paths no footsteps can retrace fall from the now and here

Like weightless notes from welkin wombs its moments waft and splay
To settle soft where dusk entombs the tempo of Today

Compelling us to take a closer look at what runs rife
Through fingers of composers of a song that we call Life

© Janet Martin

Ps.90:12
So teach us to number our days, 
That we may gain a heart of wisdom.

My family likes to sing whenever we have a chance!
To close out the singing part of Sunday we,
( as best as our memories could serve us)
sang the song below together and THAT was the
sentimental icing on the cake😭



 Here are part of the lyrics  by Bill and Gloria Gaither
I can't find a link with all the stanzas 
so not sure if a few were added later??

We have this moment to hold in our hands
And to touch as it slips through our fingers like sand
Yesterday's gone and tomorrow may never come
But we have this moment, today.

Hold tight to the sound of the music of living
Happy sounds from the laughter of children at play
Hold my hand as we walk through the sweet fragrant meadows
Making memories of what was today.

Tiny voice that I hear is my little girl calling
For daddy to hear just what she has to say
My little boy running there by the hillside
May never be quite like today.

Tender words gentle touch and a good cup of coffee
And someone who loves me and wants me to stay
Hold them dear while they’re near don’t wait for tomorrow
To look back and wish for today.

Yesterday's gone and tomorrow may never come
but we have this moment, today.

Oh! You were trying to see the recipe in the one photo above?!
This, (making it for supper but using ground beef!)



Friday, January 12, 2024

Brief Encounter (with Today) or Truth's Long Encounter (with Eternity)

 Ps.139:16

all my days were written in Your book

and ordained for me

before one of them came to be...


Heb.3:12-13

Take heed, brethren, lest there be

in any of you an evil heart of unbelief,

in departing from the living God.

but exhort one another daily

while it is called Today;

lest any of you be hardened through

the deceitfulness of sin


I wonder what today will bring!

Yesterday brought a sweet visit with my sister 

at a friend's beautiful home!

...and an opportunity to be utterly enchanted 

by our Creator's handiwork

as we walked on a riverside trail nearby!





this poem originally was the first three stanzas, 
then, as I was posting it, three more tumbled out😅😏
so, maybe you just want to read three or maybe you will read six.
Either way, may God bless and guide you and me 
 as we try to make the most of
Today's Brief Encounter

Where you will go, I know; your predecessors lead the way
Through twilight’s westward gate each brief encounter disappears
Yet, when I wake, once more you fill each window, like a tray
Replenished with what waits to fuel prayers, laughter and tears

And, though I do not know the ins and outs of ups and downs
I know Whose faithfulness abides to cup each come-what-may
That waits to weave an echo-labyrinth of smiles and frowns
As yesterday’s tomorrow dons the fleet shoes of Today

…to run beneath my feet, the sacred sweep that ekes toward
The finish line where Time and taker’s marathon is through
Thus, dear Today, before you fade where dusk tugs heaven’s cord
And tucks you beneath stars, I want to make the most of you

Because only God knows how many of you yet remain
Before each Today He ordained for me has come to be
So then, because I know that you will never pass again
I want to make the most of mercy's gift of you to me  

Because there is much more than memories to make, at stake
Much more than love's emotional or sentimental spree
Today is the day of salvation; a gift all should take
To prepare for Truth's Long Encounter with Eternity 

Then we should pay attention to each Today that we have
(As surely as the upward flight of sparks, its end will be)
But, Soul transcends the trek that spans between cradle and grave
Where Today's brief encounter hems Truth's Long Eternity

© Janet Martin





Friday, December 15, 2023

Because a Person Could Get Lost...

 


The older we grow the swifter years fly!!


This poem began to niggle yesterday evening, on a sunset walk, alone
on a lane that over the years has seen many a youngster racing ahead of me...





A person could get lost while wandering backward through the years
While tracing moments embossed on a tide of smiles and tears
Where seasons slipped through fingers of sunrise and shadow-fall
Till, commonplace we realize, is not common at all

Duty and beauty interlace, weaving life’s aftermath
A person could get lost while grieving bygone’s joy-worn path
Where if we are not wary, we could miss the moment gold
That no miser can bury and no wishful thinking hold

Rather than ruminate about a world that is no more
This day the Lord has made is rolling west from eastward shore
And just as surely as the rest it will slip out of reach
So then, I want to try my best to learn what it would teach

…because a person could get lost in fond futility
While wand’ring backward through a world of glossed imagery
Better to focus on Today, because it is a gift
That all too surely slips away to yester-worlds adrift

© Janet Martin


a few 'wandering backward' shots...















Friday, September 29, 2023

Loving Masterpiece...

Each day unfurls its lease of life
Glad laughter swirls with sorrow’s tears
To follow footsteps that run rife
Across a world of yesteryears...


'Maybe I'm living in the past', I commented to my daughter
as I scanned grocery-flyers, searching for what seem to be 
sale-prices of a bygone era.

We all know we cannot live in the past;
each day is its own Present Newness
never to return!



Each day is charged with what yet waits
To tune replies with grin-and-groan
To fulfill that which orchestrates
Both stumbling-block and stepping-stone

Each day unfurls its lease of life
Glad laughter swirls with sorrow’s tears
Then follows footsteps that run rife
Across a world of yesteryears

Each day is primed with Time’s decrease
Four-season circuits ebb and flow
Hello-farewell, embrace-release
Heart-pieces scatter as we go

No matter how common or grand
Each day is never commonplace
For it is a gift from God’s hand
A loving masterpiece of grace

© Janet Martin


Psalm 106:1
Hallelujah ! 
Give thanks to the LORD, for He is good; 
His loving devotion endures forever.







Wednesday, August 9, 2023

Gift-Unwrapping Onus


Ps.78:4&6-7
We will not hide them from their children,
Telling to the generation to come the praises of the LORD,
And His strength and His wonderful works that He has done....

...That the generation to come might know them,
The children who would be born,
That they may arise and declare them to their children,
7That they may set their hope in God,
And not forget the works of God,
But keep His commandments;...







Tug gently where dawn’s coral tulle
Gilt-edged, dissolves night’s crepuscule
Where mercy’s kind pledge is renewed
To author humble gratitude

Tread softly where a shadow-world
Beneath each sunrise is unfurled
Dawn’s wrapping paper falls away
Granting a gift, we call Today

Touch kindly its fugitive lease
Cherish it with love, joy and peace
Take time to pray-smile-sing, to sit
And worship the Giver of it

Tend wisely, what is given thee
And live as if today could be
The Gift that flings ajar The Door
Between time and Forevermore

© Janet Martin