I sing my song of love to Thee,
My God, in Persons, Holy Three,
My Three, as You desire to be,
Have come to earth to succor me.
I, who pine, wanting Thee to please,
Lift heart and hands upon my knees,
Hoping, True God, for Thee to live,
For Your Heart beats but to forgive.
©2016 Joann Nelander
David, Thy Servant, desired to build You a house.
I, too, desire to build You a holy dwelling.
I desire to build it here,
In this space in which I live.
Here on this ground of my being,
More than brick and mortar,
More than outward beauty,
I raise its rafters of prayer.
I desire this house to be a home,
Where angels and saints are welcome,
And drawn by the Heart of this dwelling,
For the home I will build is totally Yours.
With David, Your servant, I desire.
I desire to please and serve my God.
Make of me a home, an abode,
In which we may sup,
Now, and eternally.
(C)2016 Joann Nelander
I am old and getting older.
My frame is frail and fire flickering.
My body speaks of leaving,
But what of me?
The body is all I have known.
My soul and spirit have been quite at home
What we have known of living
Has come by the body’s telling.
When I go hence,
And dust reclaims this house,
I will look to You,
For it was You who lit my flame.
The body didn’t give me life,
Nor shall its demise
Claim my life.
You are the font of my being.
Those who seek to love the world,
And those who choose the self apart from God,
Finally find they worship a needy god,
Who has not the power to meet their needs.
Before my parting,
My course will be marked,
Drawn by my choices and loves.
In death, may I further pursue my Love.
You are familiar to me in a homey way.
We have lived together all these years,
And I will recognize Your Voice
When You call me home.
No fear, no sudden fury,
Shall stop my pilgrim stride,
Or bend my will,
Long bent on You.
What of me?
Without You,
I would not know myself.
Call to me and I will come
©2016 Joann Nelander
High on Your Cross,
All the world lay at Your feet,
Broken!
The Body of the Christ is broken,
Broken for us.
The Body of the Lord is broken,
Broken to redeem.
The Father has placed under Your Feet,
Your enemies,
His enemies.
You, broken on the Cross,
Embrace Your enemies,
Willing to Love them into Life.
Inviting my free will to choose Him Whose Heart
Breaks for me.
The Earth quaked at Your Dying,
To open and receive Your Blood.
Grace, all Grace!
High on Your Cross,
With me at Your Feet,
My heart breaks to receive You.
Broken Body of Jesus,
One with me in Redemption,
Mine.
I want to spend my day loving You
And embracing life as You send It to me.
Nothing comes but by Your Will,.
Not that I haven’t thwarted Your Will.
I have!
I know I have,
But even as this moment
Bears the imprint of the hammer,
That struck the nails impaling You on Your Cross,
The Cross remained Yours,
And Your All Holy, All Chosen Will,
All of Your choosing
From the beginning of Time.
You are above Sin,
Above my sin and error,
The New Adam,
Obedient to the Father,
A Trinity of Union,
In Love.
By the Will of God ,
And the hand of man,
All infraction of the Divine Will
Was nailed to Your Holy Cross.
In You, I die to Sin,
And rise to live Your Dying
In my day.
In You,
Given for Men
Given for me,
I live God’s permissive Will,
Fashioned for me,
In the purifying furnace
Of His Perfect Will.
In this new day,
I choose the Cross and the Furnace,
I choose You,
Who are forging a union of hearts,
Perfect Love loving Man,
Desiring the perfection of every man,
Loving and perfecting me.
(C) 2016 Joann Nelander
Your love is sweeter than the honey dripping upon the lover’s tongue,
Sweeter than wine that wakens the palate to new delight.
Your love is aroma and taste penetrating the heart.
It is the roof growing higher,
And foundation of my world,
Glimpsing heaven and begging it near.
Your love is sweeter than my life.
It is invitation and enticement,
Known and unknowing,
Higher than happiness,
Straining to the Holy.
Your Love is the beginning and end of Life.
Falling on the world,
Drop by drop,
Yet, like a river in flood,
Endless and eternal,
The crossing of Now and Forever
Meeting in my bossom,
Drawing me free from myself,
Into You.
In Your thirst
You are all poverty,
Hungry,
And yet all supplying,
Giving and spent,
Still full in Your Emptiness.
Your Love is sweeter than this life,
Holy with promise,
You ring my heart with longing
And satisfy my depths and queries.
With Truth, You show me the heaven of Your Heart,
And bid me “Come.”
© 2016 Joann Nelander
