The Apple of Your Eye

You are before me,
Drawing me ever closer.
I am lost in loving,
Beseeching and begetting
By Your grace.

You call me
“The apple of Your eye”.
Look, then, upon my world.
Perfect it,
Through this, my prayer.

Color the ghettos of sin
With hues of charity.
Bring a springtime of purity,
That earth may be as heaven,
Peopled with Children of God.

My loaves and fishes
Can feed the poor and hungry.
Though they be few, You are mighty.
Grace, Grace, O Holy Grace,
Behold me,
As I feast on Thee.

copyright 2014 Joann Nelander

I woke up this morning and decided that I am a Mermaid. Affirm me!

BY PAUL MCCUSKER 05/20/2016
I woke up this morning and decided that I am a Mermaid. An African-American Mermaid. No, wait, I am actually an African-American Transgender Mermaid Who Is Lesbian. And left-handed. (My taste for Sushi makes me think I’m Japanese, too, but I’ll figure that out later. I can always change my mind.)
Now, to accommodate this decision, I am going to expect the government to replace the roads with waterways so I will have easy access to the places I want to go. (The good news is that there’ll be no arguments about bathrooms because I’ll simply relieve myself in the water.) My employers will have to change my office to a pool or tank of some kind—they’ll have to or be accused of discrimination. My family may be surprised, but I’m sure they’ll come around. They’ll have to, if they really love me. It doesn’t matter what I do to their lives by my decision. No one should hold me back. Maybe the President will say how courageous and brave I am for finally being what I was truly meant to be.
I may throw a party and demand that the local pet store make me a seaweed cake (and they better do it or I’ll sue). One day I hope to marry again—several times, perhaps, since Mermaids aren’t really monogamous. Anyway, that’s where I am. Later, I will be taking a chainsaw to my various bits—removing my legs and what-nots to facilitate my change. Don’t worry. It’s not self-mutilation because it’s my choice and I say it isn’t. Though, unfortunately, the operation to change my respiratory system—human lungs to gills and all that—will have to be funded by taxpayers under the Affordable Health Care Act. I’m sure you don’t mind, because it’s what I want.
I can’t describe the freedom I feel right now. For such a long time I have been oppressed by a so-called “reality”—whatever the heck that is—that has told me I am not actually a Mermaid. I now see Reality for the lie that it is. I am a Mermaid! Rejoice. Affirm me. Celebrate me. Because the very word “Mermaid” starts with “Me”!

Read more: http://www.ncregister.com/blog/mccusker/i-woke-up-today-and-decided-that-i-am-a-mermaid.-affirm-me/#ixzz49PNCosT3

Hail, Full of Grace

Hail, Full of Grace.
Graced One,
Chosen tabernacle of the Son.

Vessel of Grace,
Your Soul, the Spirit’s gravure,
Your “Fiat”, bringing forth the Savior.

Grace upon grace,
Immaculate the chamber
Of your heart,
Awaiting, with Your Holy Son,
Our ascent.

Count it all grace.
Amen, my Father.
Thy Will be done.

Copyright 2016 Joann Nelander

The Embrace

image

Clutching You to my heart,
My sins before me,
I make Your Death,
My dying,
And find my life.

You give Yourself to me.
You give Yourself for me.
I hold Your cold,
Your bruised and bloodless Body
As I pray.

Wiping the spittle from Your Face,
I behold the Man,
My sins before me always,
I embrace Your Words.
“Father forgive.”

Copyright 2016 Joann Nelander

Eyes of My Soul

O eyes of my soul,
Eyes of my spirit,
Eyes of my heart,
See!

See the glory revealed
In all creation.
See the Son
Hidden in the least
To the greatest.

Recognize the Christ,
Lord of all.
Lord over the earth
Lord over the sea
Lord raised above the heavens.

Enthrone Him, King,
King of your soul,
King of your spirit,
King of your heart.

As light illuminates,
See that you are a new creation.
See Christ, in this moment,
As in the breaking of the Bread.

Copyright 2013 Joann Nelander
All rights reserved

Moments of Grace

Prepare me , O Lord,
During those moments of awe,
Even if hampered
By sleep or confusion,
Presumption, even ignorance,
As we’re Peter,John, and James
On the mountain
Of Your Transfiguration.

Prepare me for the work
With which You grace me,
In the valley of the world.

Let me remember
Of the mountain experience,
Your Love and Your Glory.
Water the seed of my baptismal faith
With the fresh water
From Your pieced side.

Be as the dew fall
On the grass of my awakening.
Honor the tears of Mother Mary,
As she looked on You,
In the Hour of Your glorification
On the Cross,
To weep with you for me.
Awe struck, I live to praise You.

Copyright 2012 Joann Nelander
All rights reserved