Tag Archives: Prayer

Move the Hands of God by Prayer

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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

Counting Stars

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I counted stars today.
As prophets and dreamers,
Glimpsing God through the darkness,
My wonder soared.
I, too, beheld
The promise of eternity,
Stretched across the eons.

Mere points of light
In a midnight sky,
Announcing Truth veiled in mystery,
Of things hidden and unseen,
Of ages long past and yet to be.
Who with me
Knows that there is more?
Much more!

Lanterns hung in the heavens
Make of me their lampstand,
That Eternal Light
Might shine more brightly,
Giving voice to creation.

No dumb marvel,
Rather angelic themes,
To sing high praises
In celestial chants,
For all who turn their gaze
Heavenward, counting,
And loosing count,
Journey home.

Copyright 2012 Joann Nelander

Hope’s Longing

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I find you in tears.
I find you in longing.
I find you covered in the news of the day,
Lying in the cold,
Under the blanket of the night,
Under heaven’s gaze.

Who wipes your tears?
Who comforts and consoles?
Who sees you in your many disguises,
Crying in the child,
Laughing with young,
Smiling down from Heaven?

Give me eyes to see through the tears.
Give me a heart to feel hope beyond sorrow.
Give me the shelter of your company.
Here in the Now,
I find You sweet within me
Promising Forever.

©2015 Joann Nelander

Who is the Poorest of the Poor?

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Who is the poorest of the Poor?
Is it not the one deprived of womb?
Is it not the one gone unnamed?
Given a frame
But denied rightful claim,
Stripped bear of place,
No space to grow,
Deprived of a proper birth?
Is it not the one evicted,
Before drawing it’s first breath,
Whose beating heart is silenced,
With the sanction of the Court!?
With privacy,
Lest the whole world hear it’s cry?

Though a mother forget her child,
The Father of all fathers
Will not, no never, forget.
He has a place,
And a name,
For all the poor,
For the poorest
Of the poor,
Called “Beloved”
And “Poor No More”.

©2012 Joann Nelander

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“Fiat”

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“Fiat.”
To Mary’s “Fiat,”
I say, “Amen. Amen. Amen. ”

“Fiat”, my gift to You, my King.
I give You, here in my heart, Mary’s “Fiat”,
That so inflamed the heart of Your Father,
That He gave her His Kingdom,
Enfleshing You, His Son.
The instant Mary formed her ascent in her heart and mind,
And her lips forms the word “Fiat”,
You, my God,  began Your Human life in the womb of the Virgin.

O Mary, more than a chalice,
For of your seed sprang God,
Fully human, Fully Divine ,
Of you,
Eucharist was conceived
In Immaculate Splendor.
Thanksgiving began in the heaven of your Soul
And took flesh from the heaven of Your being.
Amen. Amen. Amen.

Father, my gift to You
This morning,
Mary’s “Fiat”
May it ring out
From this lowly Earth
That heaven come down
And live among Men.
Rain down Truth and Beauty, born of a Virgin,
His Body,
Forever bearing her donation.
Mystery, Divine,
Remember Your Love, throughout Time.

©2011 Joann Nelander

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Sweet Presence

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You are here.
My soul drinks
Of Your Presence.
Here is sweetness pervading,
Time with no measure,
Eternity kissing the moment,
Stillness, though fleeting.

Your touch stirs the life of me.
I want to dance,
Charged with new vigor.
I should simply gaze on You
But the power of life
Is hard to resist,
And unless You take me captive,
I’m tempted to fly.

I am the beggar,
Who finding his pockets full,
Hurries off to spend his treasure.
Teach me Lord to bask
In the sunshine of Your smile.

© 2013 Joann Nelander