In Time,
Yet above it,
Beholding Past, Present and Future,
Christ, look upon my fore-bearers,
Still alive by virtue of an immortal soul.
Look upon my world, spinning in Space,
Held in its journey through Time,
By Your Father’s Almighty Word,
Destined for Judgement,
Bequeathed Mercy.
Look upon me,
In my time,
In my place,
On my journey.
My Jesus, Mercy.
© 2016 Joann Nelander
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
Lord, Most High,
Most Good,
Most Holy,
As an eagle, soar our nation’s skies,
Look down and take pity on a people losing their way.
See us as we struggle.
See our deceivers.
See our cherished deceptions.
See our broken law.
The weight of haughty deception,
Oppresses a people,
Fearing the gift of Life.
It is hard to juggle our many gods.
To our folly,
Mammon has supplanted our love for You.
Resisting Your Love.
We choose Death
As an answer to Life.
We think the blessing, a curse,
And the curse, a blessing, nay, a right,
Negation the same as something, someone.
Give Your People Your eagle’s wings,
To scale the heights
With You.
Carry us on Your strong pinions
To safety in the clefts of the Rock.
Hide us in Your Sacred Wounds.
With an Eagle’s talons,
Swoop upon the Enemy
Who carries off our young.
Lord, Most High,
Most Good,
Most Holy,
Carry us on eagle ‘s wings to the safety of Your bosom,
Your Truth.
I love the way
You keep trying
To take the beautiful,
And make it more beautiful.
Is there no city on a hill,
No mountain grandeur,
Nor sweeping vista,
That can truly satisfy,
In its worldly reality?
Having travelled all byways,
Having scaled the heights,
Plumbed the depths
As far as you dare,
Seek still you will.
You want yet more.
You always will.
Memory does not suffice,
Camera and canvas fail.
Pixels and pigments,
Even when teased to their ends,
Falter and fall short
Of the image
Engraved on your heart.
It is as though,
At some level,
You intuit.
You fear.
You suspect.
No, you truly know.
There will always be,
One more quest,
Another dream,
Perfecting,
The not yet perfect.
You glimpse the Creator in creating.
With moon and stars,
With waterfall and rainbow,
With the wilderness and the wild,
You point.
For the sum of all,
Sunrises and sunsets,
Venues and vistas,
Still will not equal,
Just simply point.
You rise to the challenge,
Build to the crescendo,
And then must wait,
Wait till the Perfect comes.
At last,
At long, long last,
To know
The One to whom creation points
To know at last
The One True,
All Beautiful,
God.
© 2016 Joann Nelander
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
In these precious moments before dawn
Prepare my waking body and soul
to serve You,
As You served our heavenly Father,
In Your Incarnation.
Dawning in the Virgin’s
Womb,
Hidden Divinity,
Secret, sacred, Savior,
Announced and served by Angels,
Alive in hallowed Love,
Glorifying Man in Your Mortal Garb,
You are hidden now in me.
Manifest Your glory,
In all humility,
As, yet again,
You dawn anew,
In this heart that longs for You.
copyright 2015 Joann Nelander
Be Holy! 