O God, let me climb
the Lord’s mountain,
That I may be changed,
Charged, and sent.Going up to Jerusalem,
May sinful Man
Grab on to the tassels
Of my garment,
And run with me,
Drawn heavenward
By Your Cross.On this mountain,
This all hallowed mountain,
From which the bones of Adam,
And the faith of Abraham, cry out,
Rescue,save, deliver,
My Redeemer comes.©2011 Joann Nelander
Category Archives: My Journal
Here I Am
Here I am, beneath your heart,
My heart beating in happy harmony,
As my frame perceives
The gentle throbbing within your breast,
Serene.I began in secret and in darkness,
A mystery, even to myself.
Day by day, nature shapes my clay,
As you await the blessed dawn of my birth day.What I know, I know by existence.
I am now all trust,
Simply growing,
Simply becoming who I am.Comfort, you give comfort.
Love, you are all I know of love.
As you wait for me, my mother,
The eyes of my soul are wide open.
I behold you, smiling upon me.Expectant, vigilant and gleeful,
Mother of my moments,
You cradle me.
You are my home of sweet delight.© 2011 Joann Nelander
Grounded in the Glorious
O, You, Who gladden Day,
Send my roots deep into Your Heart,
Which is entwined with mine,
Alive in my soul,
That glorious place at my center,
Lit by Your Presence and Your Light,
And which by grace is eternal,
Never to go out.Extend my branches
As willowy arms,
Reaching to the heavens,
Branches of You, the Tree of Three,
Destined to support your nestlings,
Becoming home to a universe of creatures,
Each living Your purpose
In its precious destiny.O, my Beloved,
Ground of my being,
Sharing the mysterious I Am,
And naming me,
Calling forth the clay that be,
To take on immortality.I am all “Fiat” and gratitude,
As Son to Father live the Spirit,
One, All in all,and Heart, my Three.©2011 Joann Nelander
Blossom in the Desert
Sad the plight of Man,
Mourning the lose of Paradise.
Captive to cowardice,
Hiding from his God.
Cast out, betraying,
And accusing one another,
Empty of grace, forlorn.
One garden of hope remains.
One paradise,
Ready for the Spring.
One immaculate heaven on earth.
O Virgin, say but the Word,
And your “Fiat”
Will blossom forth in Faith,
Rarity of your virginal ground.
Immaculate fecundity,
Queen Mother, Desert Willow,
New Eve, bearer of New Adam,
With new creation, rejoicing.
Voicing all thanksgiving,
A Eucharist for the sons and daughters of God.
© 2011 Joann Nelander
Passion of a Warrior
When did his passion begin?
Did it commence with the kiss
By which he bid his loved ones adieu.
Or did the call to battle
Bid him count the cost,
Shattering vanities and proud hoorahs,
With winter ice
Though veins,
Piercing to the marrow of bone.
The Call was always greater
Than one man’s valor or presumption.
Holier than Adam could undertake in rage,
Yet a young David found an “Amen”
Rising within his shepherd- breast,
Shielded by hope and faith
Born of a Savior,
Yet borne into battle
By the foal that carried Him forth.
All battles,
Waged for the souls of men,
Find common ground;
Friend and foe,
Dying side by side.
As grains numbered as the sand,
And the blood,
Bridle high at Armageddon,
Corpses piled and claiming
The best among us,
As generations of spent warriors’ might,
Trust to God
To judge the heart of every man,
And wear his colors in His raiment.
Memories, born as festering wounds,
Or toughened scars,
Mark the man and record the Passion.
No jot or tiddle forgotten,
Fingered on the ground,
Condemning only the Accurser.
Angels minister the balm of Gilead
As the dead live again,
And the living love
Through the Darkness.
Mended hearts,
Held to a measure,
Weighed on scales of Mercy.
Are blessed.
None forgotten,
All forgiven.
How long? How long?
Martyrs witness the passion of the warrior,
And place merited crown,
And victor’s wreathe,
As a new name resounds,
Pronounced by the Mouth of God.
©2012 Joann Nelander
Tears’ Requite
Awash on shores of errant heart,
Crystalline soldiers wend their depart.The battle o’er, the mend begun,
Hovering Spirit break forth thy sun.You tugged as moon on ebbing tide,
To etch and burrow as to chide,But than as swells of billowed lace,
You left a smile of radiant grace.To purge my soul of sorrow’s trough,
You gently rain to Spirit offThe crust and brine of life’s past sin,
and let your troves of laughter in.Providence of wind and wave
Serve but to resurrect and save.by Joann Nelander
Be Holy! 