Hidden Jesus

Hidden Jesus,
You fill my heart with desire.
I feel the agony
Of this earthly foray.

In Your Presence
Faith fills the silence.
Truth like beauty
Says You passed this way.

Your footprints in Time
Dot the heavens.
While I stand in the vestibule of eternity,
As one holding paradise at bay.

Aching emptiness
Of temporal schemes and dreams,
But mask my loneliness
For yet another day.

Step over the threshold
Where angel guards Eden’s gate
To drip Your fingers
Into my life as now I pray.

Copyright 2014 Joann Nelander

Vanity’s Fool

Suppose vanity exults creation
Above Creator?
Capture the moment.
Worship the image
As possessing life.

Gaze on the ship in the bottle,
A gimmick,
Devoid of wonder.
Just big enough to drink in,
Merely a sip by comparison
To the soul setting upon the sea
To catch the Wind in its sails
To be carried aloft
In hallowed abandonment.

Vanity thanks its fortune,
And prostrates itself
Before its stars.
No One to thank
No  One due worship.
Just another ship in a bottle.
Taking on water
And disappearing ‘neath
Life’s waves.

Rudderless fool
Contemplating the form of things,
Playing with beauty,
As though creating it anew.
A kaleidoscope of folly
Spills on the worldly canvas.

All the while,
God shines forth in His creation,
Only the willful blind fail to see.
Preferring a world of mirrors
To the light and splendor of Truth.