Friday, February 27, 2015

Because Jesus Loves Us So




In an attempt to explain to a little one why it matters beyond bad manners or impoliteness, to not say naughty words, to choose what is good and true and right, no matter who we are, how old or young, it is because Jesus loves us so...

(photo from Uncle Arthur's Bible Bedtime Stories) read the rest of the real story in John 19&20. Isn't that last verse breath-taking?! " But these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through his name."

Who could ask for anything more?

Why do I live to seek to give
The best I can in every day?
Why do I try to choose the right?
Why do I love; why do I pray?
Why do I sing and hope in spite
Of what eye-sight bids me to know?
What in the world am I here for?
Why? Because Jesus loves me so

Why, when wrong seems supreme and strong
And right the meeker, weaker cause
Am I persuaded to press on
Without fame, fortune or applause?
Why, when fierce fear should drown all cheer
Can I with peace face evil’s foe
Comforted beyond death’s cold leer
Why? Because Jesus loves me so

Where unbelief blinds and condemns
Belief rends veils; we love because
Jesus IS life and hope. Amen.
And suffering to His last breath
He died to set doomed sinners free
So, if He loved us unto death;
This Lord of Lords, then shouldn’t we?

© Janet Martin


Falling in Love Every Day





Don't you just love the 'newness' of morning; the hope of this Stranger-Friend as we meet for the first time, every time?!
Cyndy got me to thinking how, in a sense I fall in love every day!

Sometimes you disappoint me so
Your coat of dowdy cloudy-gray
Is tugged from you and tossed away
And I am glad to see you go
And yet, in spite of it I know
 I’ll fall in love, come morning’s Day

There’s something’ bout the ‘new’ of you
That I simply cannot resist
From yonder blue you woo, God-kissed
And melt the night with bright-eyed hue
Stranger, yet Friend I fall into
The brand-new you that Time untwists

Night helps me to relinquish all
I cannot change and frees my arms
For morning filled with virgin charms
Where you are waiting handsome-tall
Your ‘could-have-been’ pinned to Past’s wall
...into outstretched First Love I fall

© Janet Martin

Enjoy the Journey





While I was listening to Lysa Terkeurst talk about what inspired her latest book The Best Yes she reminded us to stop being so hard on ourselves (esp. mothers, because as long as sinners keep giving birth to sinners we will never fully 'get it':)...so, just get out there and enjoy the journey! 

After all, its a once-in-a-lifetime experience!

This journey of morning to noon to night
This trouble and struggle and stumble fight
Can make us forget the full joy of the flight
… by God-granted grace we go
And how in the world can hope fill our glass
If we, cast down with fear’s might-come-to-pass
Overlook ‘every good thing’ that we have
Weighed by what we cannot know?

Love light’s the wick of dawn’s candle whereby
Soon the whole morning fills up the night sky
Tucked into archives, where no hands can pry
Yesterday’s should-haves remain
And now on the brink of what we cannot see
Grace pours Today to Time’s long-suffering lea
Beckoning to little you, little me
Come one and all, try again

‘This is the day that the good Lord has made’
How will we fill it before its skies fade?
…before its nevermore softly is laid
Where none its gasp can exhume
Then, let the music of mute moments meld
Into keep-sakes, Today; nothing withheld
Save for the quiet berating of Self
…now let’s get out there and bloom

© Janet Martin

 ...for they will all know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them," declares the LORD, "for I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more." 35Thus says the LORD, Who gives the sun for light by day And the fixed order of the moon and the stars for light by night, Who stirs up the sea so that its waves roar; The LORD of hosts is His name: Jer.31:34-35

Thursday, February 26, 2015

Beyond Our Control...Wikem Thursday

  


Gravity...  has an infinite range; it is always attractive and never repulsive; wikipedia



Yes, it's wikem-day:) Anyone is welcome to give it a go! Join in?:-)We're all first-timers to each topic!

well, that explains it then
how, no matter how far
away the miles dictate the state
of distance, here you are

and I can touch you where
road-maps claim otherwise
for maps do not account for sounds
like soft-spoken good-byes

your infinite appeal
defies all gravity
thus, no matter how far you are
you're always here with me

for we are drawn, it seems
by laws of fixed discourse
futile to fight the nature of
love's superlative force 

Janet~

The Blue of You and I





When daylight dies
Blue over blue
Time’s half-shut eyes
Draws me to you

With keen caress
Echoes compete
Where happiness
Is bittersweet

Before and after
Intertwine
Moment-laughter
Ever mine

For though having
Folds to years
Holding never
Disappears

When daylight dies
Blue over blue
Time’s half-shut eyes
Draws me to you

© Janet Martin

The quiet is amplified as the noise of three lively boys is packed into Daddy's pick-up midst 'bye Janet' shouts:)
It sparked echoes... seems the color of 'missing you' is twilight blue.