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.
©2016 Joann Nelander
Your grandeur overwhelms me.
You lavish your splendor,
Even on the ordinary,
Like grass upon the meadow,
And tears welling from the heart.
Where can I look that You are not?
Even the fallow field,
Awaits another day,
As virgin in repose,
Seeing in needful desire,
A time of promise and plenty.
You are written on our hearts.
We perceive You near,
Though hidden.
Terrible and tender,
You are unknowable,
Unless You give the means of knowing.
The universe though draped
In the garb of galactic might and majesty,
Does not know that it is.
Yet, the sentient child
Plays at Your side.
Men, too busy,
Brush by You on the street.
While the nursing babe
Finds You in steady supply.
Too grand!
Too glorious!
Blinded by the refulgence of Your sublimity,
I cover my eyes,
Yet peek with hope
To glimpse You passing.
In the mist of Your Mystery,
You are!
You are!
You are!
I know,
Because I am,
And You whisper and shout
Revealing,
I AM THAT I AM.
© 2016 Joann Nelander
I adore.
You, my God, present Yourself to me,
As Mother to a nursing child,
And I nurse at Your Abundant Breast.
Your milk is sweet as honey,
And all I want to do is nurse.
I have chosen the better part,
And You spend Yourself upon my want.
God, You, Who calls forth Life,
And then feeds and sustains the needy,
With endless Love,
Succor and suckle me.
© 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
Just as I am,
All that I am,
You behold me.
I see so little,
So little of me,
So little of You.
“Through a glass darkly”
Sufficiency suffices,
In Faith, believing.
Mingled here, Your Mercy,
Grandeur, clouded in Mystery,
I rest as a babe.
Just as I am,
A mystery unfolding,
Ever so small.
Cradled in universe expanding,
My stuff born in your stars,
Fit in Time in me.
Just as I am,
Spirit, soul, body,
Free to choose my destiny.
Mingle my “just as I am”
With You,
My Destiny.
Called into being,
Ever renewed,
Moments, all grace!
Made in Your Image,
Knowing my Maker,
I must but trust.
This is my prayer.
These are my moments of grace,
Though “through a glass darkly”.
© 2016 Joann Nelander
Here we are again,
You, Holy God,
Blessed Trinity,
And me,
Meeting in prayer.
I will to thank,
To praise,
To love,
And extol Your Name,
The One, the Only,
The True,
My God.
Desiring so to open
Wide Your Heart,
As a gate yielding
To thanksgiving,
And receiving me,
Alive with praise and worship
Into the throne room
Of Your Love.
Bathed in the Spirit,
Receiving,
Head to heart,
Heart to head,
Head to heart,
Ebb and flow,
Water of Life.
© 2016 Joann Nelander
At your feet, my Jesus,
I rent my heart,
That the ashes of my life,
May spill upon Your Altar,
Here at the foot of Your Cross.
Send Your Hallowed Spirit,
To stir the dust that I am,
That carried aloft on Your Wind,
I may escape the hold of Earth and flesh,
And the Accuser.
Carry me,
On Your gentle breeze,
Above this world,
Beyond the Lie,
To a safe haven,
The heaven of Your Presence.
© 2016 Joann Nelander
You, by Your Presence, O Lord,
Are Light to my darkness.
You are the kiss upon my brow,
The oil upon my head,
The arms of sweet embrace,
The banner over my heart.
You, All Love,
Bless this child of Your magnificent
And magnanimous Mercy.
Day by day.
I find You all about me.
Flowers and fields,
Spread before me
As a welcoming blanket.
Come rest awhile, You invite.
I come and I delight.
Immaculata-Patroness
Joann Nelander Studio 