Today Twofer ...Cradle of Eternity and Today's Most Estimable Gift

Yesterday we celebrated the child that turned Jim and I into grandparents! Happy 7th Birthday, Grandson! Simply being there may look like nothing much(dear weary, young mother/parent), but, is in essence, everything! Oh, the efforts that may seem to count for nothing here but may count for everything There!🙏🙏🙏By God's grace, keep on. Above, we simply see a birthday cake!! not the baking of it by Very Sleep-deprived mom after children are tucked into bed,We don't see the many, messy, mundane, oops, I mean SACRED interruptions/frustrations to bring it to fulfillment!😅💓 Technology/screen-time has many negatives in the development of children BUTthis is one of the best positives; being able to laugh and chat with cousins over 2000 kilometers away!! “Children are not a distraction from more important work. They are the most important work.”– Dr. John Trainer(according to, the above quote is misattributed to C.S. Lewis) Children are by far the most important work!because... Beneath the wide, missing-toothed grinThat six and seven year old sportsBeneath Innocent Countenance That Time's Insistence soon aborts Beneath the sweet Cocoon of YouthTrembles an Immutable FlameAs irrefutable as TruthUnthwarted by denial's claim This truth kindles a deeper lookAt faces that we love so dearAt babies nestled in arm's crookAt hugs, as we draw loved ones nearBecause, beneath the part we seeExists the Thing That Never DiesThe Cradle of EternityHas missing teeth and eager eyes ...a-sparkle with dream-giddy starsWhere footsteps that dash wild and freeAre bearing a most sacred chargeThe Cradle of EternityBecause, the part that melts the heartWith the velocity/Curiosity of Youth Cradles the soul, that precious PartThat looks to us to teach/tell the Truth © Janet Martin Eccles.12:1Remember your Creator in the days of your youth, before the days of trouble come and the years approach when you will say, “I find no pleasure in them"— I began the poem below yesterday...Inspired in part by this passage (which also helped inspire the above poem) For He established a testimony in Jacob,And appointed a law in Israel,Which He commanded our fathers,That they should make them known to their children; That the generation to come might know them,The children who would be born,That they may arise and declare them to their children,That they may set their hope in God,And not forget the works of God,But keep His commandments;... from this devotion... from this book... Before the poem was completed Eagerness arrived to steal the show with sweetness! when Little Brother noticed Big Sister about to be the 'star',he, ever-so-full-of -'innocent'-mischief did his thing😂😂😇 Can't you just about hear his very enthusiastic 'CHE-E-E-ESE!!'💖😅 We still managed one without his shenanigans (that keep everyone laughing and pulling their hair out!😂😅) After they left, Gramma needed a nap beforeheading out to above birthday celebration! Today's most estimable part is valuable to knowThough its most vital works of art may never steal the showIt ought to stoke a lion’s roar in hearts of you and meBecause today swings wide the Door of Opportunity Where what we do with what we have holds more than first appearsThe impact of Now’s aftermath fills more than yesteryearsAs repercussion of reply unravels in its wakeA footpath forged by you and I, for future feet to take Today’s most estimable part is sacred to the touchThough, at first glance its works of art may not appear as muchBeneath the part we see the root establishes the treeThat will, for good or ill, bear fruit for all eternity Sometimes eternity can feel far off, and quite unrealSometimes Impulse can spar and scoff at God’s/time’s/love’s patient appealSometimes, today’s most estimable gift, we hardly seeAs God fills up the cup we lift with Opportunity © Janet Martin Let's not lose heart by dwelling on opportunities lost or missedbut seize the part we build upon;Now, goodness-glossed and mercy-kissed