I love You, Lord. You embrace me in our communion of Eucharist. I believe in Your love for the sinner. I am that sinner. You come to me. I am empty and poor, yet You make my poverty Your paradise. Here I bring to You all You have given me.
Behold Your streaming waters tumbling over my rocky ground. Your light penetrates my depths; the caverns of my heart yield their darkness to You, O Holy Sun! Sit here beside me in silence, as praise becomes an uncontainable river within me. Flow from my humble abode to water Your thirsting world without. Delight, O Lord, at the crashing thunder as majestic waves rise before You in a crescendo of thanksgiving, finally pounding down upon the shore of my unworthiness. They ebb and flow and gather strength as I remember Your Mercies. All You have given me, I give now with gratitude.
Joann Nelander
Tag Archives: My Journal
A King, A Victim, A Priest
A king,
A victim,
A priest,A king accused,
A victim scourged,
A priest condemned,A king crowned and robed,
A victim beaten and humiliated,
A priest on the altar of the Cross,O Anointed One,
O Crucified One,
O Holy One,
Thy kingdom come.
Thy will be done.
Eternal Priesthood won.by Joann Nelander
Perspective for a New Day
Beginning another day and trying to get some perspective.
My Imitation of Christ Book I, chapter 2:
Many words do not satisfy the soul; but a good life eases the mind and a clean conscience inspires great trust in God.
The more you know and the better you understand, the more severely will you be judged, unless your life is also the more holy. Do not be proud, therefore, because of your learning or skill. Rather, fear because of the talent given you. If you think you know many things and understand them well enough, realize at the same time that there is much you do not know. Hence, do not affect wisdom, but admit your ignorance. Why prefer yourself to anyone else when many are more learned, more cultured than you?
If you wish to learn and appreciate something worth while, then love to be unknown and considered as nothing. Truly to know and despise self is the best and most perfect counsel. To think of oneself as nothing, and always to think well and highly of others is the best and most perfect wisdom. Wherefore, if you see another sin openly or commit a serious crime, do not consider yourself better, for you do not know how long you can remain in good estate. All men are frail, but you must admit that none is more frail than yourself.
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
Move the Hands of God by Prayer
In the silence God invites without words. My prayers are often noisy affairs filled with faces, memories, love and feelings of sorrow. I am often overwhelmed and moved to tears by the poignancy of a fleeting thought. My heart tells me that what seems insignificant holds a treasure. God’s gifts often come in disguise like the beggar at the door who is Christ. The Spirit says minister here in this place at this time; reach back through the years to move the hand of God by prayer.
I am with God, the Lord of All, including Time. I may have missed or misused moments to do good, but God reigns in Eternity, as present in the Past as He is in my heartbeat. God’s hands are not tied by the flow of Time. He is there and here and Eternal Now. My lowly prayer, clothed in The Name, breaks down the wall that stands between my need or regret, and blessing. Like the little donkey that carried the King of Kings, my humble prayer sets in motion the flow of grace to love, to heal, to mend, to restore and bless anew.
Joann Nelander
Flowers and Drunken Bees #poetry
Flowers in the rain
Petals open to sustain
Life that is and is to be
Crouched in hidden expectancy
Bees by colors in delight,
Arrested, nay, beguiled, alight.
To sip and gather on furry feet
Nectar and pollen of life so sweet.
Flower to flower in drunken run
Dance the mystery now begun.
by Joann Nelander
* "A hapless male bee, blind drunk with the flower’s overpowering pheromones, might well mistake a toadstool for a suitable mate" a tidbit from Wikipedia
Be Holy! 