Make me as a flower in sun and rain.
May I, as by nature, turn to follow You
In Your course throughout my life.
Let Your holy, healing waters penetrate my being,
As roots planted securely in Your Providential soil,
Drink of Your constant streams.
As it is Your nature to water and supply,
May I by Rebirth,
Unfurl my gowns to Solomon’s delight.By Joann Nelander
Category Archives: All Things Catholic
In Humble Expectation
My Jesus, I wait in humble expectation,
For the fulfillment of Your desires for me.
The Father wills,
That You be all in all in me
What will I look like,
When You fully reign in my heart?
How have I distorted Your Image?
How do I hold You at bay?
The most beautiful monstrance,
Without You at its center, is empty.
Shine out of me.
Be the heart of me.
Be Lord of this manor.
Be heart, hearth and home.
Draw the world to Your Table.
Feed the world with your Holy Bread.
Flesh and Blood, You,
Penetrate the Gift of Life.
With ever new hope in me,
You wait to fulfill all You Promise.
You are my Sweet Salvation
Given as unmerited and undeserved gift.
Believing and bowing low,
I am lifted!
Touching the hem of Your garment
My faith finds Your favor.
Holiness of the forgiven sinner,
Live the fullness of Your Life in me.
© 2016 Joann Nelander
Just as I Am / Through a Glass Darkly
Just as I am,
All that I am,
You behold me.
I see so little,
So little of me,
So little of You.
“Through a glass darkly”
Sufficiency suffices,
In Faith, believing.
Mingled here, Your Mercy,
Grandeur, clouded in Mystery,
I rest as a babe.
Just as I am,
A mystery unfolding,
Ever so small.
Cradled in universe expanding,
My stuff born in your stars,
Fit in Time in me.
Just as I am,
Spirit, soul, body,
Free to choose my destiny.
Mingle my “just as I am”
With You,
My Destiny.
Called into being,
Ever renewed,
Moments, all grace!
Made in Your Image,
Knowing my Maker,
I must but trust.
This is my prayer.
These are my moments of grace,
Though “through a glass darkly”.
© 2016 Joann Nelander
The Meeting Place
Here we are again,
You, Holy God,
Blessed Trinity,
And me,
Meeting in prayer.
I will to thank,
To praise,
To love,
And to extol Your Name,
The One, the Only,
The True,
My God.
Desiring so to open
Wide Your Heart,
As a gate yielding
To thanksgiving,
And receiving me,
Alive with praise and worship
Into the throne room
Of Your Love.
Bathed in the Spirit,
Being,
Receiving,
Head to heart,
Heart to head,
Head to heart,
Ebb and flow,
Water of Life,
My All.
© 2016 Joann Nelander
At Your Feet
At your feet, my Jesus,
I rend my heart,
That the ashes of my life,
May spill upon Your Altar,
Here at the foot of Your Cross.
Send Your Hallowed Spirit,
To stir the dust that I am,
That carried aloft on Your Wind,
I may escape the hold of Earth and flesh,
And the Accuser.
Carry me,
On Your gentle breeze,
Above this world,
Beyond the Lie,
To a safe haven,
The heaven of Your Presence.
© 2016 Joann Nelander
I Am Mud
I am such a mess.
The rain falls on my soil,
And for a while I am mud.
No hint of fertility.
No hint of growth.
No hint of flowers.
Mud is self-forgetful,
A confusion of gift,
A profusion of promise.
The day will seed to my substance,
Serendipity and surprise,
Plantings for the morrow.
I shall lie here,
Loving my mud,
Waiting for the Sun.
© 2016 Joann Nelander
Be Holy! 