Marianne's FLASH💥DEVOS Podcast

Job 3:23-26Why is life given to a man whose way is hidden, whom God has hedged in?For sighing has become my daily food; my groans pour out like water.What I feared has come upon me; what I dreaded has happened to me.I have no peace, no quietness;I have no rest, but only turmoil.”+People of the past and future share our despair, times when all else fails. Questions plague our thoughts, spreading festering boils. Silence aches.When your life feels like Job’s, what is your prayer?Thanks for subscribing!💥Means a lot! This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit marianneabellipschutz.substack.com

Galatians 5:13 It is absolutely clear that God has called you to a free life. Just make sure that you don’t use this freedom as an excuse to do whatever you want to do and destroy your freedom. Rather, use your freedom to serve one another in love; that’s how freedom grows. For everything we know about God’s Word is summed up in a single sentence: Love others as you love yourself. That’s an act of true freedom.+Flourishing communities--and individuals--work together for the common good.Is freedom growing near you?*Holly Harris, currently based in Washington, D.C., works in printmaking and oil painting. She created seven linocut illustrations to accompany each chapter of *Andrew DeCort's book, "Flourishing on the Edge of Faith." Much of Harris’ work illustrates her own grappling with the tensions of relationship: how we relate to self, to the divine, and to one another in a complex, globalized world." Find her at https://holly-harris-comms-portfolio.squarespace.com/“Flourishing on the Edge of Faith: Seven Practices for a New We” by Andrew DeCort, with linocut illustrations by Holly Harris. https://www.bittersweetcollective.com/andrew-decort This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit marianneabellipschutz.substack.com

Psalm 7:14-17Whoever is pregnant with evil conceives trouble and gives birth to disillusionment.Whoever digs a hole and scoops it out falls into the pit they have made.The trouble they cause recoils on them; their violence comes down on their own heads.+Imagine being “pregnant with evil.” Consider who can access our intimate lives. Who or what hides evil inside--with hurtful actions, violent images, and vengeful slogans that tear others apart? And why?Our speech and actions can embed seeds of rage or mercy in everyone we influence. Grace heals.“Maria Wickwire creates ceramic sculptures in northwest Washington. Her works reveal feminine archetypes, she writes, “hoping to encourage healing and forgiveness in our sometimes splintering world.” Find Maria on socials and at Mariawickwire.com About “Cassandra,” Maria writes, “The god Apollo attempted to win Cassandra’s love by granting her the gift of prophecy, but she rejected him. Since a god could not take back a gift once bestowed, Apollo did the next best thing. He cursed Cassandra so no one would believe her prophecies. Oddly, a tiny shard of clay came loose inside her. You can barely hear it tinkling inside when she’s lifted up. To me, it’s that tiny, intuitive voice we all have, but sometimes fail to hear or to believe. However, it’s always right whether we listen or not.” This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit marianneabellipschutz.substack.com

Hosea 2:18On that day I will make a covenantwith all the wild animals and the birds of the skyand the animals that scurry along the groundso they will not harm you.I will remove all weapons of war from the land,all swords and bows,so you can live unafraidin peace and safety.+“On that day” sounds like a future time when God’s promises come true, God’s unbelievable and astonishing purpose to reconcile with everyone and everything. That future could be now.Bring this covenant to life!Subscribe to Flash💥Devos + Podcast or Follow for the latest posts. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit marianneabellipschutz.substack.com

Joshua 23:14 “Now I am about to go the way of all the earth. You know with all your heart and soul that not one of all the good promises the Lord your God gave you has failed. Every promise has been fulfilled; not one has failed.”+Elders who speak with authority and conviction offer those pearls of great price that can be treasured for generations. Write down dreams for your loved ones, stories of faith and community in hard times. Answer the why questions of your life.Record your truest truths.*Annie Soudain is a retired art teacher with a studio in Hastings in East Sussex, England. Annie creates local landscapes from Fairlight, Pett Level, Rye Harbour, and Romney Marsh in watercolors, wax resist on silk, and linocut prints. Find Annie’s book The Marsh, The Sea, and The Sky, and her prints, cards, puzzles, and tea towels at www.anniesoudain.co.uk This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit marianneabellipschutz.substack.com

Luke 10:8-11“When you enter a town and are welcomed, eat what is offered to you. Heal the sick who are there and tell them, ‘The kingdom of God has come near to you.’ But when you enter a town and are not welcomed, go into its streets and say, ‘Even the dust of your town we wipe from our feet as a warning to you.’”+With every visit from Jesus, the kingdom comes—surrounding us, breathing within us.Be a good neighbor in the kingdom of God. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit marianneabellipschutz.substack.com

Matthew 26:26-29During the meal, Jesus took and blessed the bread, broke it, and gave it to his disciples:Take, eat.This is my body.Taking the cup and thanking God, he gave it to them:Drink this, all of you.This is my blood,God’s new covenant poured out for many people for the forgiveness of sins.+We hear “Take, eat,” too literally. Too much taking, too much eating. Communion rots as junk food for empty faith.Quench your thirst for authentic Love. “Drink this, all of you,” Jesus offers.Marianne’s Substack is reader-supported. Please consider a free or paid subscription. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit marianneabellipschutz.substack.com

Isaiah 6:3-5[The winged seraphim] were calling to one another:“Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory.”At the sound of their voices the doorposts and thresholds shook and the temple was filled with smoke.“Woe to me!” I cried. “I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the Lord Almighty.”+Will it ruin you to experience the living God?Feel the heat of transformation.Thanks for subscribing! 💥 Means a lot! This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit marianneabellipschutz.substack.com

The spiritual life of home and place shifts with the seasons for me. As my Thank-You gift to all of you who have come alongside me during June on Flash💥Devos, I offer my article about the world I encounter on my lawnmower, an unlikely but perfect place to connect with creation. May the ways you tend to the world bring you surprise and insight, too. Around the Yard in 100 Daysby Marianne Abel-LipschutzSpring mowing in Iowa releases the sweet pineapple aroma of chamomile. I discovered this stubborn, single stem plant in our driveway gravel, creeping improbably across compacted zones like it owns this place. Driving from one side of the lawn to mow beyond a building, I trim it so often that it barely tops my toes. Also known as Common Mayweed, this herb defies annual baths of RoundUp, subzero winters, snow plows, and herbicide spills. Green sprouts proliferate even after the grader blade shaves the gravel so flat it pools water like beach sand. Mayweed is a persistent gift that teaches me how to thrive in unlikely places.Chamomile varieties have been cultivated since the Neolithic. Commercial producers harvest a blue oil and components of the flowers and leaves for pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, and teas. One source claims that people around the world drink more than a million cups of chamomile tea daily. The tiny plant yields bioactive phytochemicals that treat ailments from hay fever and hemorrhoids to insomnia and muscle spasms. Native to northeastern Asia and northwestern US, sources say chamomile was likely brought eastward across America with the Lewis and Clark expedition as they returned to St. Louis in 1806. Rich folklore and traditional healing treatments document its spread westward from Asia.On our farm, mayweed is a wild companion, my souvenir of our history here. We bought this property from the Federal Land Bank in September 1987 and did not meet the former owners until later. Foreclosed in 1983 during the agricultural crisis, this dairy and general farm had been operated by generations of one family for almost one hundred years. Neighbors declined to buy the land, a common protest strategy, leaving the acreage to the care of renters. The property’s ragged edges showed how quickly vegetation reclaims the spaces people leave behind.We moved here in late November after most plants and shrubs had withered. I would have liked to walk around the yard with the former owners to learn what grew where. Even if we had met then, they probably would have directed my attention away from the weeds. We had never lived west of the Mississippi or on a farm, and though many common plants and trees were familiar in this northern climate zone, many were new to us. We’d come from West Virginia where eroded, hillside soils formed from decayed woodlands over rock and clay. Iowa offered a new nature with lush prairie sods and soils created by glacial drift layered over ancient marine sedimentation.Our first year here presented a calendar of outdoor surprises. Perennial onions, hyacinths, and tulips appeared after the snow melted. Rhubarb emerged like an organism coming out of hibernation. Asparagus fingers poked through like Rip Van Winkle calling out to meet the newcomers. Rangy willows waved their yellow catkins at us when we looked out the kitchen window. A solitary cherry tree by the road, exposed to harsh northwest winds for countless winters, finally exhaled some blooms after much effort. Peony fists shook in the wind along the west ditch. I would have enjoyed a crowd of white or lavender lilacs, even a few hollyhocks. It’s just as well that this place had few frills. Roses and fussy ornamentals would have perished from my neglect.I feel at home with seemingly insignificant plants like chamomile that blend in as part of the scheme of things. Pineapple Weed is another popular name for this miniature cousin of the daffodil. It sprouts above the grit with a lime-green stalk topped by a yellow, cone-shaped, button flower stuffed with potential. Thousands of its seeds weigh a fraction of an ounce, an abacus of years counting forward into the future. We notice mayweed in northeast Iowa at the beginning of June when that unmistakable sweetness rises again.The area where mayweed grows best now was the site of the property’s original house. This small, clapboard structure had been used as a garage and metal-working shop after the family moved into the big house across the driveway, built in 1924. By the time we bought the place, the shop was a multi-generational mix of wasp nests, spiders, parts, nails, oil slicks, and metal paraphernalia that outbuildings accumulate as if by magnetism. We salvaged odd tools and dimensional lumber, and bulldozed the rest to expand the driveway for maneuvering large equipment.The demolition exposed that patch of ground to daylight and rain, activating a botanical legacy that hosted the mayweed. The tropical smell enchanted me, an unexpected scent in the driveway when I crushed the flower bud

Psalm 77:2-6When friends said, “Everything will turn out all right,”I didn’t believe a word they said.I remember God—and shake my head.I bow my head—then wring my hands.I’m awake all night—not a wink of sleep;I can’t even say what’s bothering me.I go over the days one by one,I ponder the years gone by.I strum my lute all through the night,wondering how to get my life together.+Seeking relief leads our souls to the Beloved.Treasure the hope you embody as cherished by God.A version of today’s Flash💥Devo also appeared this morning in Red Letter Christians’ WakeUp devotional newsletter. https://redletterchristians.org/*Allison May Kiphuth is an artist, sternman, and collector of things who lives in a tiny house in Monhegan, Maine. Her dioramas in antique boxes, unboxed diorama scenes, and watercolor and ink studies of natural objects enchant viewers as if we’re walking together and might pick up a feather, a dandelion, or scan the woods at twilight. Discover her current work at linktr.ee/alliemaykiphuth or her website https://www.allisonmaykiphuth.com/ This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit marianneabellipschutz.substack.com

Ephesians 2:17-20, 22He came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near. For through him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit. Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with God’s people and also members of his household, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone.+Let the prophecies of generations find fulfillment in you.Peace rules.A version of today’s Flash💥Devo also appeared this morning in Red Letter Christians’ WakeUp devotional email newsletter. *Olly Costello is a white queer illustrator, PIC abolitionist, food growing enthusiast, and community seed saver. “I hope my work can be a small contributing part of creating our new culture, grounded in honoring the inherent sacredness of all beings and pushing us beyond violent cultures,” Olly writes. Discover their inspiring work on socials and at https://ollycostello.com/Your subscription💥means just what you think! This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit marianneabellipschutz.substack.com

Psalm 22:25-26From you comes the theme of my praise in the great assembly;before those who fear you I will fulfill my vows.The poor will eat and be satisfied;those who seek the Lord will praise him—may your hearts live forever!+Calling in our community with fear and praise sounds confusing. But when we witness the miraculous intervention of God in our families, cities, and towns, hope thrives.Be a prophetic voice for good in our world.Thanks for reading!💥It’s good to be with you. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit marianneabellipschutz.substack.com

Luke 1:46-51God took one good look at me, and look what happened—I’m the most fortunate woman on earth!What God has done for me will never be forgotten,the God whose very name is holy, set apart from all others.His mercy flows in wave after waveon those who are in awe before him.He bared his arm and showed his strength,scattered the bluffing braggarts.+With some people there’s no doubt who’s responsible for their quality of life.Is your character marked by divinity?*Maria Wickwire reveals feminine archetypes in ceramic sculptures, hoping to encourage healing and forgiveness in our sometimes splintering world. Her “Fledgling” series evolved from a series she named after Terry Tempest Williams’ poem, “Once Upon a Time When Women Were Birds.” “When I started making the smaller ones, it seemed logical to call them fledglings,” she commented. “They are very small pieces, but powerful in their own way. Fledgling 30 is one of my favorites.” Find Maria on socials and at Mariawickwire.com“Once upon a time, when women were birds, there was the simple understanding that to sing at dawn and to sing at dusk was to heal the world through joy. The birds still remember what we have forgotten, that the world is meant to be celebrated.”Terry Tempest Williams, When Women Were Birds: Fifty-four Variations on Voice This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit marianneabellipschutz.substack.com

Romans 5:1-2 We throw open our doors to God and discover at the same moment that he has already thrown open his door to us. We find ourselves standing where we always hoped we might stand—out in the wide open spaces of God’s grace and glory, standing tall and shouting our praise.+June is spectacular in the Upper Midwest where vast fertile landscapes invite us to relax and breathe freely. What can you offer God in gratitude for the divine gifts your neighborhood enjoys?Live the glory you are.In memory of our good neighbor Coralee Keefauver Barrow ~ 1936-2024Thanks for subscribing! 💥 Means a lot! This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit marianneabellipschutz.substack.com

Ephesians 1:17-19 I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know God better. I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which you’ve been called, the riches of this glorious inheritance in God’s holy people, and this incomparably great power for us who believe.+Humility, awe, and peacefulness embody inheritance, glory, and power.May your heart accept revelation.*Elle Billing creates safe spaces for community on Očhéthi Šakówiŋ land in rural North Dakota. “I am deeply drawn to surrealism, artistic tension, the multiverse, and alternate timelines,” they write. “In the studio you will find me deconstructing old books, making my own collage paper, and infusing my work with the power of story.” Experience their invitation “to co-create the world we want” at https://www.elleandwink.com/Your (free) subscription💥matters! Thanks! This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit marianneabellipschutz.substack.com

Psalm 133How wonderful, how beautiful,when brothers and sisters get along!It’s like costly anointing oilflowing down head and beard,Flowing down Aaron’s beard,flowing down the collar of his priestly robes.It’s like the dew on Mount Hermonflowing down the slopes of Zion.Yes, that’s where God commands the blessing,ordains eternal life.+Harmony between people invites God’s blessing. How can we “ordain eternal life” within our circles and communities of influence?Choose a joyful way to anoint one another with the promise of eternal life.Colectivo + ARTE "is an artistic group in Sumpango, Guatemala that seeks to promote change in our society through art and sharing the cultural richness of our land." Find their work on socials and around central Guatemala. The Salmo 133:1 mural was commissioned in 2024 by the local ministry, El Puente Sumpango.Thanks for subscribing! 💥 Glad you’re here. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit marianneabellipschutz.substack.com

John 1:16-18We all live off his generous abundance,gift after gift after gift.We got the basics from Moses,and then this exuberant giving and receiving,This endless knowing and understanding—all this came through Jesus, the Messiah.No one has ever seen God,not so much as a glimpse.This one-of-a-kind God-Expression,who exists at the very heart of the Father,has made him plain as day.+Can you connect with Jesus in one of these forms? Light. Joy. Bread. Prophet. Friend. Vine.Reach for the very heart of Love.My friend *Lily DeCort is an Ethiopian American painter based in Chicago. Her work, ranging from luminous landscapes to evocative abstracts, reflects the liminality of her experience. Her paintings explore beauty, vulnerability, healing, and the human journey from wonder to loss and hope reborn. Learn more about Lily’s art at https://lilydecort.com/Thanks for subscribing! 💥 Means a lot! This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit marianneabellipschutz.substack.com

1 Samuel 2:8-9 He raises up the poor from the dust; he lifts the needy from the ash heap to make them sit with princes and inherit a seat of honor. For the pillars of the earth are the Lord's, and on them he has set the world. He will guard the feet of his faithful ones, but the wicked will perish in darkness, for not by might does one prevail.+The poor, the needy, faithful ones, the wicked: all receive their due.Let God’s synergy animate your community.*Olly Costello writes,“I find direction and purpose in recognizing the power our radical imaginations have in shaping the world we live in.” Their illustrations add to Jane Ball and Mariame Kaba’s powerful new book, Prisons Must Fall, showing the harm prisons cause and exploring alternatives. “I hope my work can be a small contributing part of creating our new culture, grounded in honoring the inherent sacredness of all beings and pushing us beyond violent cultures.” Discover their inspiring work at https://ollycostello.com/Your subscription💥means a lot! Thanks! This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit marianneabellipschutz.substack.com

Psalm 30:5, 11-12You turned my wailing into dancing;you removed my sackcloth and clothed me with joy,that my heart may sing your praises and not be silent.Lord my God, I will praise you forever.+It is difficult to live in the image of God whose “anger lasts only a moment,” and whose “favor lasts a lifetime.” Yet God’s love invigorates us with an eternal power we can tap for change in ourselves and our communities.Receive the great mercy that makes our lives whole.Kindred spirit and dear friend *Paula Tomy says she felt compelled to make art but lacked the time before retiring from elementary education. She is giving art another chance now. “I laugh, I rage. ~ I vibrate, I can't move. ~ I hate, I love. ~ I am light, I am darkness. ~ I am perfect, I am chaos. ~ I control my pen, my pen controls me. ~ I paint souls, but I can't find mine.” A painter and a poet, Paula lives in Marion, Iowa. “Now there's time for art and I’ve found sheer delight,” she wrote. “There are pen and ink drawings of extreme detail, and paintings with a flying brush. When I paint or draw, I am free.” This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit marianneabellipschutz.substack.com

Isaiah 46:4 I’ve been carrying you on my backfrom the day you were born,And I’ll keep on carrying you when you’re old.I’ll be there, bearing you when you’re old and gray.I’ve done it and will keep on doing it,carrying you on my back, saving you.+Nature reveals the imperishable Power Greater than All Others. Whether it is human nature, the physical world around us, or an intuitive knowing, each person arrives at the threshold of the Divine in our own time.What’s next on your spiritual journey?*Allison May Kiphuth describes herself as an artist, sternman, and collector of things who lives in a tiny house in Monhegan, Maine. Her miniature and multi-layered landscapes evoke the woods and coastlines of the northeast. Dioramas in antique boxes, unboxed diorama scenes, and watercolor and ink studies of natural objects enchant viewers as if we’re walking together and might pick up a feather, a dandelion, or look off into the woods at twilight. Discover her work at linktr.ee/alliemaykiphuth or her website https://www.allisonmaykiphuth.com/Your (free) subscription💥matters! Thanks! This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit marianneabellipschutz.substack.com

Here’s an essay about learning to heal loneliness, offered to you as a Thank-You gift for reading, listening, and praying along with me during May. I feel so encouraged by your presence. May reflecting on respectful relationships bring insight and hope into your world. The Museum of My Lonely Heartby Marianne Abel-LipschutzMy complicated history with stealing may have started on nature walks in grade school. Teachers taught us simple ways to study what we explored in our suburban Chicago town. Students made leaf collections, smearing Elmer’s white glue on the backs of dried leaves we’d picked up in the neighborhood to fill pages in autumn scrapbooks. One leaf per page with the tree’s name. There was no mention of maybe the leaves were needed by the soil or that they belonged to the land where they’d grown.We killed butterflies and beetles, and organized them on quilting pins on a whiteboard. We printed each insect’s name carefully before gluing the paper strips alongside each insect. Lightning bugs filled Mason jars for a few days. We threw them out after their lights dimmed. In a family of five, school projects weren’t kept long.There was no talk of the torture of small creatures. Nature was just there. There for the taking.No one mentioned that our parochial school was built on the traditional homelands of the Three Fires: the Ottawa, the Potawatomi, and the Ojibwa. We all lived on land stolen from Three Fires peoples when they were forced west against their will in 1835. Stealing is part of our history.***I stole money from people and things from Woolworth’s dime store downtown in fourth grade. I slipped a check out of a lady’s pocketbook at church one Sunday, then forged it for cash at the local movie theater later that week. After buying popcorn and Raisinets for the matinee, I set most of the money aside to donate to the mission fundraising competition at our Catholic grade school. I really wanted our class to win and be cheered when the money thermometer filled up with Maybelline red paint. Beyond seeking the approval of the nuns, I couldn’t say exactly why I engaged in stealing. Psychology suggests I wanted to draw attention to our family’s need for attention. Ours was a good-enough family but we kept secrets about serious problems.Eventually, a police officer knocked on our front door and inquired about the forged check. I confessed and agreed to apologize to the lady at her house with my dad. He offered her cash restitution, money I had to pay off through chores. Sadly, the silence about domestic violence at home persisted along with my shame.My stealing habits shifted to other pursuits. Some Saturdays I’d borrow a grocery cart from the local Kroger’s store and wander the trails of Panfish Park for the afternoon, walking the cart as if it were a companion. I’d return it to the rack in the parking lot on my way home. I wish someone had taught me that the woodland preserve itself was another support, an important companion in a lonely time.Stealing is acting on the impulse to take something for my use or pleasure that doesn’t belong to me. It’s as true in a store or a library or someone else’s home as it is in a forest or along the shoreline where a mussel’s abalone glints in the sunlight and, delighted with this beachfront trinket, I transfer it into my pocket and off we go. Of course, I don’t think of that as stealing but I should.Loneliness is a common human feeling when social attachments fade and interpersonal connections diminish in value. Different from solitude or being alone, loneliness can motivate me to connect with something or someone outside my boundaries. In the past, that yearning to be in a relationship could be satisfied by stealing. Disordered feelings still urge me to take what isn't mine but my self-restraint is stronger now. I’ve learned to feel content without needing to possess more.***I treasure all manner of stolen objects, plucked without permission from environments where I once felt connected so tenderly that I didn’t want to live without their charm. I cradle each item into my surroundings. Wherever I’ve moved, I’ve carried shells and pottery shards and leaves and beaver-toothed shreds of oak and seed pods and a hunk of coal--even a tiny bird nest half the size of this paragraph that was blown out of a tree. Living with favorite things helps me attach to a new location where, before long, I’ll bring home new souvenirs from the beginnings of relationships that mark my settling in.Tiny worlds fill the six-inch wide disk that holds up my nightstand lamp. Each object carries its own folklore--stories about its formation, mode of living, origins, and its history with me. There are two shells from Deer Isle, Maine, a favorite place shaped by ocean, wind, rock, and marine life: one conch and a snail decorated with barnacles. There’s a quarter section of a broken sand dollar polished by the beach; is it from Florida? I forget. Rather than reading at night, I like to pick up a t

Proverbs 2:4-5That’s right—if you make Insight your priority,and won’t take no for an answer,Searching for it like a prospector panning for gold,like an adventurer on a treasure hunt,Believe me, before you know it Fear-of-God will be yours;you’ll have come upon the Knowledge of God.+Today’s International Day for Biological Diversity implores everyone to address inequality, respect traditional knowledge, and empower women, girls, Indigenous People and more.Seek restoration and flourishing by honoring the ways everything is divinely interconnected.*Maria Wickwire creates ceramic sculptures in northwest Washington, hoping to encourage healing and forgiveness in our sometimes splintering world. “The title ‘You See More than I’ is from ‘Daniel’ by Elton John (lyrics by Bernie Taupin),” Maria commented. “She is a particular favorite of mine for some reason, maybe because she is still something of a mystery to me.” Find Maria on socials and at Mariawickwire.com This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit marianneabellipschutz.substack.com

Acts 11:25-26 Then Barnabas went to Tarsus to look for Saul, and when he found him, he brought him to Antioch. So for a whole year Barnabas and Saul met with the church and taught great numbers of people. The disciples were called Christians first at Antioch.+The spiritual revival in Antioch around 46 A.D. flourished so broadly that locals called the diverse crowds by the nickname “Christians.” They called themselves disciples, followers, brothers and sisters. Now a Christian identity is complicated.What distinguishes believers today?Subscribe to Flash💥Devos + Podcast or Follow for the latest posts. Thanks! This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit marianneabellipschutz.substack.com

Luke 10:23-24 Then he turned to his disciples and said privately, “Blessed are the eyes that see what you see. For I tell you that many prophets and kings wanted to see what you see but did not see it, and to hear what you hear but did not hear it.”+Jesus places abundant power within our grasp--literally his hands in our hands, his words in our mouths, his life in our bodies. Reconciliation works wonders.Attune with Love to respond in love.*Meg West lives near Charlottesville, Virginia, delighting others with her plein air oil paintings since 2000. Her landscapes depict scenes throughout the Shenandoah Valley, as well as Skyline Drive, the Blue Ridge Parkway, and beyond. “I enjoy the rhythm and momentum that comes with a steady flow of painting,” she wrote. Meg completed today’s image and others during a five-day plein air “Unleashed Paint Out” with about thirty artists, sponsored by Allure Art Gallery near Deltaville, Virginia. Find Meg on socials and on her blog at http://www.megwestoilpainting.net/Thanks for subscribing! 💥 Means a lot! This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit marianneabellipschutz.substack.com

Jeremiah 20:9But if I say, “I will not mention his wordor speak anymore in his name,”his word is in my heart like a fire,a fire shut up in my bones.I am weary of holding it in;indeed, I cannot.+Once a truth sets you free, new conversations emerge. It’s surprising how people and things that used to be important drift into the past. Vocabulary changes. Tone of voice shifts.Maybe you’re ready to speak up now. Clearly, confidently. Lit from within.*Marcia Milner-Brage creates from direct observation, facing the blank page “to transfer all my senses, whether I’m looking outward or inward.” She writes personal essays and creates visual art. “I play with color and paint and collage, embracing whimsy through my valentines.” Her series is at: https://www.flickr.com/gp/marciamilner-brage/N7u5Z078s3.”I’m so grateful that Flash💥Devos + Podcast is a reader-supported publication. Thanks! This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit marianneabellipschutz.substack.com

Luke 12:29-32 And do not set your heart on what you will eat or drink; do not worry about it. For the pagan world runs after all such things, and your Father knows that you need them. But seek his kingdom, and these things will be given to you as well.“Do not be afraid, little flock, for your Father has been pleased to give you the kingdom.”+The “you” in “give you the kingdom” means all of us.The whole flock is divine.*Christina Farrell is an artist and consultant with a professional background in opera and theatre. She specializes in arts integration and thrives on collaboration. Supporters describe this mural as “meaningful community-based artwork,” envisioned in brainstorming sessions with residents for a vision of the future. “I was able to experience the warmth of this neighborhood first-hand while talking with people,” Christina wrote. “I especially loved when kids would ride up on their bikes, point to the mural and say, ‘That looks like us!’” Discover Christina's art at https://christinafarrellart.crevado.com/ and at the organization she founded to network with Iowa creatives at https://throughlinearts.org/.Your (free) subscription💥matters! Thanks! This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit marianneabellipschutz.substack.com

Luke 5:4-6 When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, “Put out into deep water, and let down the nets for a catch.”Simon answered, “Master, we’ve worked hard all night and haven’t caught anything. But because you say so, I will let down the nets.”When they had done so, they caught such a large number of fish that their nets began to break.+Obedience with 51% compliance yields miracles in God’s hands.Hope thrives in the deepest waters.My friend *Lily DeCort is an Ethiopian American painter based in Chicago. Her work, ranging from luminous landscapes to evocative abstracts, reflects the liminality of her experience. Her paintings explore beauty, vulnerability, healing, and the human journey from wonder to loss and hope reborn. Learn more about Lily’s art at https://lilydecort.com/Thanks for subscribing! 💥 Means a lot! This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit marianneabellipschutz.substack.com

John 21:12-14 Jesus said to them, "Come and have breakfast." Now none of the disciples dared to ask him, "Who are you?" because they knew it was the Lord.Jesus came and took the bread and gave it to them and did the same with the fish.This was now the third time that Jesus appeared to the disciples after he was raised from the dead.+An invitation from Jesus simplifies life and messes with our worldview. Would you accept the opportunity?Sharing a meal (with Jesus) is risky.Your (free) subscription💥matters! Thanks! This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit marianneabellipschutz.substack.com

Revelation 3:17-18 You say, ‘I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.’ But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked. I counsel you to buy from me gold refined in the fire, so you can become rich; and white clothes to wear, so you can cover your shameful nakedness; and salve to put on your eyes, so you can see.+In Christ, even the wretched become rich.How will you be transformed and by whom?Reset with a spiritual break and feel restored. Subscribe to Flash💥Devos! This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit marianneabellipschutz.substack.com

Acts 5:18-20 They arrested the apostles and put them in the public jail. But during the night an angel of the Lord opened the doors of the jail and brought them out. “Go, stand in the temple courts,” he said, “and tell the people all about this new life.”+Public jail and a brutal flogging didn’t silence the apostles. “Day after day, in the temple courts and from house to house, they never stopped teaching.”Respond graciously when people ask how to get free through angels and Christ.*Olly Costello is a white queer illustrator, PIC abolitionist, food growing enthusiast, and community seed saver. “I hope my work can be a small contributing part of creating our new culture, grounded in honoring the inherent sacredness of all beings and pushing us beyond violent cultures,” Olly writes. Activist Mariame Kame’s new book “Prisons Must Fall” features Olly’s illustrations. Discover their engaging work at https://ollycostello.com/Flash💥Devos is reader-supported through subscriptions and tips. Thanks for being here! This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit marianneabellipschutz.substack.com

My March Thank-You gift to readers and listeners of Flash💥Devos is this article about a puddle that kept me company through the first COVID months of 2020 and beyond. This body of water served me as a Visio Divina, a sacred window of possibility that I searched with the eyes of my heart and soul. I pray that an environmental image or experience can be your holy partner through a time of grief and weariness.Pool of Tears by Marianne Abel-LipschutzFor the first six weeks of a stay-at-home order I served daily shifts as a chaplain on a 24-hour-a-day national prayer line created as a response to the COVID crisis. During the early morning, late afternoon, and again in the evening, several dozen chaplains in other time zones and I answered phone calls weary people made to an 800-number looking for relief. For two or more hours strangers invited us into a baffling intimacy amidst real isolation and social distancing.I inquired about their location as a conversation opener. No matter where the person lived, each caller felt close. “I’m talking on the couch in my living room,” one lady from upstate New York said. Her radio’s volume was louder than her voice but we managed. She feared losing her faith by not going to church. She had never prayed anywhere else and wasn't sure if the prayer line would work to rekindle her faith.An elderly man sat uncomfortably propped up in a hospital bed in Mississippi, gulping with fear and a deep, dry wheeze. “I don’t know if I will have to go to the ICU,” he worried out loud in a mellowed southern drawl. His urgent pleas matched the intermittent code blue alerts I overheard on the hospital PA system in the background. “Could you just pray that I can go home with my dog?” His mood brightened when I asked about his schnauzer, Millie. I felt comforted, too, by listening to his excitement about how she’d snuggle close to him everyday in the easy chair.One client outside Cleveland, Ohio, lamented the emptiness at his kitchen table, unable to fill the space left behind after his loved one departed. His melancholy mixed with a flurry of sounds forever bouncing around in my mind from decades around our kitchen table—the same table where his life now joined with ours. I imagined him sitting across from me at this vintage formica set we’d found at a garage sale. A lonely elder in Cleveland taught me how objects retain intangible goodness that can perish as memories recede. We prayed that love would not drift away, too.***In between calls my attention drifted to a puddle in the driveway. The puddle appeared with the pandemic after melting snow pooled with a sheen of feathery hoar frost one morning. Its steady but ever-changing presence became a stand-in companion during the isolation of 2020. I'd look out the window at the puddle as daytime air warmed the water and find myself rapt by the glittery frost flattened into a scrim of matte gray that mimicked the overcast sky. Sometimes a sparrow would drop down from the electric cable and walk around the edge, assessing the puddle. The bird would lap the chilled water and return to its perch, ascending effortlessly in one swift gesture.The puddle intrigued me. As opaque as a stilled pond, I saw its potential locked up like hope frozen in time. The shallow water out the window on my right became a contemplative partner that connected me to life beyond the confines of our house in northeast Iowa. Our bodies, made in God’s image, are 60% water. Our lungs are roughly 83% water. We are watery beings reflecting the divinity that gave us life yet we're lodged in a specific time and space.The fluid canvas spread across the driveway directed my daydreams. I imagined watering holes where massive creatures lowered themselves gracefully into the coolness of an afternoon. Some days my worried mind emptied onto the agate-studded shores of Lake Superior where sky greets water on the far horizon. Watching the sparrows stand the same way I do at the puddle’s edge, I wondered about the colors of water that only their eyes can see. I wasn’t thirsty enough to drink puddle water but my needs led me to the edge, too.“We can excite one another's imagination toward good,” writer Christina Baldwin commented on her blog that first COVID spring, “so that when we wake up empty and frightened the first thing we see is how we are held and what we are learning.”Sometimes I’d answer the phone and receive prank calls, vindictive comments about God, salacious chatter, or a hang-up. Yet each time I heard people express their anger, panic, and desperation it taught me about my own grief. Everyone we knew was at risk; COVID updates dominated most conversations. I honored how differently we suffer in each prayer as the comments of aggressive clients attuned my understanding. Occasionally a caller reciprocated and prayed out loud for me. Each prayer became an extemporaneous psalm tailored to one sacred moment together.I let two late night callers talk all they wanted since our convers

Romans 15:4-6 “I took on the troubles of the troubled,” is the way Scripture puts it. Even if it was written in Scripture long ago, you can be sure it’s written for us. God wants the combination of a steady, constant calling and warm, personal counsel in Scripture to come to characterize us, keeping us alert for whatever God will do next.+Make the word come alive! Read scripture out loud whenever you can.Help others hear words written for us, inspired by the God who loves us.Thank you for supporting Flash💥Devos with your (free) subscription. Really, it matters! This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit marianneabellipschutz.substack.com

Hebrews 2: 8-9 We do see Jesus, who was made lower than the angels for a little while, now crowned with glory and honor because he suffered death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone.+Our burdens seem daunting. Imagine having to “taste death.” Jesus showed that it’s hard and humbling to give up our lives for others.When Jesus calls our communities to high expectations, grace will empower us to act on the challenges ahead.*Elle Billing is a queer, disabled artist who lives on Očhéthi Šakówiŋ land in rural North Dakota where she creates safe spaces for community. A self-described Moody Millennial, their mixed media and paintings express a Spiritual Archeology, an unpeeling, uncovering, and undoing that addresses memory, identity, and received narratives. “We need each other. Another world is possible. Join us and co-create the world we want.” Experience their invitation at https://www.elleandwink.com/So cool how subscribers support Flash💥Devos as a gift to the arts and spiritual communities we share! This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit marianneabellipschutz.substack.com

John 19:41-42 Now there was a garden in the place where he was crucified, and in the garden there was a new tomb in which no one had ever been laid. And so, because it was the Jewish day of Preparation and the tomb was nearby, they laid Jesus there.+The solemn gifts of myrrh, aloes, linen cloths, and a fresh tomb couldn’t dress up the fact that Jesus died. Rituals give us pause to contemplate the sacredness of life.Consider the violence that will end new lives today.Thanks to people like you, Marianne’s 💥 Substack is a reader-supported publication! This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit marianneabellipschutz.substack.com

Hebrews 12:1-3 Keep your eyes on Jesus, who both began and finished this race we’re in. Study how he did it. Because he never lost sight of where he was headed—that exhilarating finish in and with God—he could put up with anything along the way: Cross, shame, whatever. Go over that story again, item by item, that long litany of hostility he plowed through. That will shoot adrenaline into your souls!+Jesus offers strategies and wisdom for untangling everyday trials.Every week is holy when we follow Jesus.My friend and fellow writer *Jill Hinners searches for peace and inspiration on or near Minnesota’s lakes and smaller waterways. Jill writes, “I collect iPhone images to document all the natural beauty in this place I’m so fortunate to call home.”Your (free) subscription💥means more than you think! Thanks! This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit marianneabellipschutz.substack.com

Isaiah 50:8-9The Lord God who vindicates me is near.Who will contend with me?Let us stand up together.Who is my adversary?Let them come near to me.Behold, the Lord God helps me;who will declare me guilty?Behold, all of them will wear out like a garment;the moth will eat them up.+Nearly six hundred years before Jesus, Isaiah prophesied that a gracious person could face the terror of crucifixion with audacity.Surrendering with mercy releases power.My friend *Lily DeCort is an Ethiopian American painter based in Chicago. Her work, ranging from luminous landscapes to evocative abstracts, reflects the liminality of her experience. Through dark skies, peaceful paths, and vast waters, her paintings explore themes of beauty, vulnerability, healing, and the human journey from wonder to loss and hope reborn. Learn more about Lily and her art at https://lilydecort.com/Your (free) subscription💥matters! Thanks! This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit marianneabellipschutz.substack.com

Psalm 105:39-41He spread out a cloud as a covering,and a fire to give light at night.They asked, and he brought them quail;he fed them well with the bread of heaven.He opened the rock, and water gushed out;it flowed like a river in the desert.+God’s stunning hospitality offers a soul food banquet when we seek help. God transforms clouds, fire, food, and water into comfort, hope, love, and shelter.Let God’s creative power energize whatever you offer others.Maria writes, “Lakshmi is a Hindu goddess of abundance. I see her as an aspect of Mother Nature and all she offers. My titles are often words from other cultures — for example Spanish, French, Indian, Native American, Thai. It is perhaps my little way of reminding us that we are all one and that divisions between people are artificially created.”*Artist and dear friend Maria Wickwire creates ceramic sculptures that reveal feminine archetypes, hoping to encourage healing and forgiveness in our sometimes splintering world. Her studio overlooks Big Lake in northwest Washington. Find her at Mariawickwire.comRefresh your outlook with a spiritual break and feel restored. Subscribe (free) to Flash💥Devos! This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit marianneabellipschutz.substack.com

1 Samuel 3:8-9 Samuel got up and went to Eli and said, “Here I am; you called me.” Then Eli realized that the Lord was calling the boy. So Eli told Samuel, “Go and lie down, and if he calls you, say, ‘Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening.’” So Samuel went and lay down in his place.+Have you waited longer than Samuel for answers from God? Give it time. Trust your sacred place. Listen.Stay alert and obedient. God wants to hear from you, too.*Annie Soudain is a retired art teacher with a studio in Hastings in East Sussex, England. Annie creates local landscapes from Fairlight, Pett Level, Rye Harbour, and Romney Marsh in watercolors, wax resist on silk, and linocut prints. “Her interest in plants started in her early years spent in Cornwall, on long walks with her mother along disused railway tracks where the cuttings were undisturbed and full of flowers and insects,” an exhibition catalog said. Find Annie’s book The Marsh, The Sea, and The Sky, and her prints, cards, puzzles, and tea towels at www.anniesoudain.co.ukThanks for subscribing! 💥 It’s good to be here with you. Sounds simple. Means a lot! This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit marianneabellipschutz.substack.com

2 Thessalonians 2:17May Jesus himself and God our Father, who reached out in love and surprised you with gifts of unending help and confidence, put a fresh heart in you, invigorate your work, enliven your speech.+Click the reset button on your vitals: let the love of Christ animate your inmost being. Others will gain traction on the goodness that surrounds you, especially in the midst of difficulty or crisis.Let your loving presence set the pace for peace and acceptance.*Holly Harris is an artist from Greensboro, North Carolina, currently based in Washington, D.C. She primarily works in printmaking and oil painting, with frequent exhibitions in D.C. She made her editorial debut creating seven linocut illustrations to accompany the chapters of my friend Andrew DeCort's "Flourishing on the Edge of Faith," published by Bittersweet Collective in 2022. Much of Harris’ work illustrates her own grappling with the tensions of relationship: how we relate to self, to the divine, and to one another in a complex, globalized world." Find her at https://holly-harris-comms-portfolio.squarespace.com/“Flourishing on the Edge of Faith: Seven Practices for a New We” by Andrew DeCort, with linocut illustrations by Holly Harris. https://www.bittersweetcollective.com/andrew-decortSubscribers support Flash💥Devos as a gift to the arts and spiritual communities we share. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit marianneabellipschutz.substack.com

Genesis 21:6-7Now Sarah said, "God has brought laughter for me; everyone who hears will laugh with me." And she said, "Who would ever have said to Abraham that Sarah would nurse children? Yet I have borne him a son in his old age."+God often uses the creative and generative power of women to cast vision and bring joy. Sparking outbursts of laughter among elders in the community is glorious worship.Let others hear why the joy of the Lord is our strength.*Marcia Milner-Brage explains, “My drawing “Self Portrait with Assumption” (1981) still embodies my artmaking practice, which is at the core of my life's journey. Titian's “Assumption of the Virgin” is the postcard-size image affixed to the wall next to the mirror that reflects me. Mary reaches heavenward to assume her place in heaven. I reach downward into the work of art-making, which is my avenue to self-discovery and the spiritual realm.” From the Midwest, Marcia moved to the San Francisco Bay area two years ago. Find her great work on socials and https://www.flickr.com/photos/marciamilner-brage/Thanks for subscribing! 💥 Simply means a lot! This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit marianneabellipschutz.substack.com

Thank you to all who’ve been praying with me during March as we celebrate Divine mercy. Today’s thank-you gift is a Lenten revelation about attuning to Christ’s suffering through experiences I had at Prairiewoods, a Franciscan Eco-Spirituality Center in Hiawatha, Iowa. May the gift of reconciliation come to you through nature as well, a reciprocal movement of loving forgiveness that shifts how we live in the world.Bouquet of Thorns by Marianne Abel-LipschutzA direct encounter with Jesus in a locust tree taught me how God shares life with each of us individually. During a 2015 Prairiewoods retreat called, “Beauty is the Path to God’s Life,” led by Father John Quigley, OSF, I discovered some answers to questions I had about reconciling suffering and hardship. Honestly, the world looked weary that first day through the meeting room windows; a late winter gloom of overcast skies lingered after a frigid winter.John spoke eloquently of God’s desire to manifest love through the vivid realities of the created world. A perfect example of this yearning claimed space on a table set with a white cloth. A torso-sized bouquet of extravagant flowers in a glass vase arranged by Sister Rita, FSPA, stood like a silent but flamboyantly-dressed person right next to John. The upright plant stems drank living water, softening the textures of dozens of petals and leaves as the hours passed.The marvelous flowers revealed God’s presence clearly, a counterpoint to the drab day which was a better representation of my broken heart. I had been feeling condemned through some harsh life events, and felt doomed to bear this time in silence. But John urged us to see God’s creativity as pervasive. “God is not just doing beautiful things. God is not just making nice flowers and pretty pictures,” he commented. “God is always breathing, always expressing.”I walked in the woods when the skies cleared the next afternoon, attuned to a revelation of God’s desire that John encouraged us to expect. The world was waking from winter dormancy. My feet left prints on the soft earth below the mulched trails. Not many birds called from the trees and no critters skittered past me.A handful of skinny fingers pointing outward from a tree trunk caught my attention. I saw thorn clusters wrapped around the tree at eye level. It was the weekend after Easter, and an image of the crown of thorns flashed in my mind’s eye. I felt like one of the bystanders on the Via Dolorosa, a witness to the awful suffering that comes with great love. Further down the path from the thorn-rimmed, honey locusts, I watched while a maple tree wept, sap seeping from the gray bark down to the cold ground like a waterfall of tears.This profound spiritual encounter with God was an intense lesson in becoming one with the suffering of Christ. Not that I could feel his level of suffering; this was my human experience of his human experience. Even the trees took part in his suffering.Romans 8:17 Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.When I returned to the honey locust grove in June to take some pictures, God was still waiting for me there. It was a lightly rainy day. Cool raindrops fell off the leaves as I walked up to the grove on the hill.The tree I met three years ago was still there, too, but the thorns were shockingly alive, flushed red with the lifeblood of spring. I touched the fresh stiletto points of surprisingly soft thorns. The blood of Christ flowed out through the tree to reach me. Like Thomas, I had doubted my ability to connect with God’s love again.The oxygen-rich, blood-red new thorns growing over and into and around the old gray clusters embodied the energy of Christ’s living and dying for us. Hope is not just in my nature, dormant. As a child of God, hope is my nature. Experiencing this incarnation of God’s almighty presence offered sacred time to touch, and see, and arouse my desire to share this gift with others.A version of this article first appeared on 19 March 2019 on the blog of Prairiewoods Franciscan Spirituality Center, Hiawatha, Iowa. http://prairiewoods.org/bouquet-of-thorns/Thanks to people like you, Marianne’s 💥 Substack is a reader-supported publication! This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit marianneabellipschutz.substack.com

Luke 15:1-2 Now the tax collectors and sinners were all gathering around to hear Jesus. But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law muttered, “This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.”Then Jesus told them this parable: “Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them.”+Jesus offered parables for homework. What would you do? When our choices don’t match our values, the conflict tears us apart. The Pharisees opted for a deadly ultimatum.Who you eat with can change the world.Elle Billing is a queer, disabled artist who lives on Očhéthi Šakówiŋ land in rural North Dakota where she creates safe spaces for community. “What a strange and wonderful life,” they wrote. “I never imagined I would leave a teaching career, but I did. I never believed I would move back to my hometown, but here I am! I think my first-grade self would be very surprised, but very pleased with this eccentric artist life I’m living.” A self-described Moody Millennial, their mixed media and paintings express a Spiritual Archeology, an unpeeling, uncovering, and undoing that addresses memory, identity, and received narratives. “The struggles of late-stage capitalism, chronic illness and disability, perpetual war, and the cost of living crisis are driving us into further isolation; we need each other. Another world is possible. Join us and co-create the world we want.” Experience their invitation at https://www.elleandwink.com/Flourishing in authentic relationships with others creates abundance in every setting. Subscribe to Flash💥Devos! This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit marianneabellipschutz.substack.com

Luke 13:7-9“‘Now these three years I have come looking for fruit on this fig tree, and I find none. Cut it down. Why should it deplete the soil?’“He answered him, ‘Sir, leave it alone this year also, until I dig around it and fertilize it. And if it bears fruit, well. But if not, after that you shall cut it down.’ ”+Fruit-bearing seasons vary for all living things. Stagnant times of grief and struggle beg for nurturing and patience.Your compassionate shepherding matters.*Marcia Milner-Brage is a scribe who works from direct observation. Marcia says she faces the blank page “to transfer all my senses, whether I’m looking outward or inward.” She writes personal essays and, in visual art, drawing, painting, and collage. “For me, being in nature is going to church. Through observing the bounty of the earth, I fulfill my calling.” From the Midwest, Marcia moved to the San Francisco Bay area two years ago. Find her great work on socials and https://www.flickr.com/photos/marciamilner-brage/Thanks for subscribing! 💥 It’s good to be here with you. Sounds simple. Means everything! This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit marianneabellipschutz.substack.com

Isaiah 55:2-3Why do you spend money for that which is not bread, and your labor for that which does not satisfy?Listen diligently to Me, and eat what is good, and let your soul delight itself in abundance.Incline your ear, and come to Me.Listen, so that your soul may live, and I will make an everlasting covenant with you.+The default setting for life--work, eat, distract, repeat--yields discontent, isolation, and harm. Yet believing in promises and everlasting and abundance can seem hopeless.Embody spiritual vitality.*Annie Soudain is a retired art teacher with a studio in Hastings in East Sussex, England. Annie creates local landscapes from Fairlight, Pett Level, Rye Harbour, and Romney Marsh in watercolors, wax resist on silk, and lino printing. “Her deep enjoyment and understanding of form and pattern help us to see the natural world more clearly,” an exhibition catalog said. “Her interest in plants started in her early years spent in Cornwall, on long walks with her mother, most memorably along disused railway tracks where the cuttings were undisturbed and full of flowers and insects.” One reviewer of her autobiographical book The Marsh, The Sea, and The Sky, quotes her, “‘I am lucky that so far, I have never run out of ideas.’” Discover Annie’s art through prints, cards, puzzles, and tea towels at www.anniesoudain.co.ukRefresh your outlook with a spiritual break and feel restored. Subscribe to Flash💥Devos! This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit marianneabellipschutz.substack.com

Isaiah 55:2-3Why do you spend money for that which is not bread, and your labor for that which does not satisfy?Listen diligently to Me, and eat what is good, and let your soul delight itself in abundance.Incline your ear, and come to Me.Listen, so that your soul may live, and I will make an everlasting covenant with you.+The default setting for life--work, eat, distract, repeat--yields discontent, isolation, and harm. Yet believing in promises and everlasting and abundance can seem hopeless.Embody spiritual vitality.*Annie Soudain is a retired art teacher with a studio in Hastings in East Sussex, England. Annie creates local landscapes from Fairlight, Pett Level, Rye Harbour, and Romney Marsh in watercolors, wax resist on silk, and lino printing. “Her deep enjoyment and understanding of form and pattern help us to see the natural world more clearly,” an exhibition catalog said. “Her interest in plants started in her early years spent in Cornwall, on long walks with her mother, most memorably along disused railway tracks where the cuttings were undisturbed and full of flowers and insects.” One reviewer of her autobiographical book The Marsh, The Sea, and The Sky, quotes her, “‘I am lucky that so far, I have never run out of ideas.’” Discover Annie’s art through prints, cards, puzzles, and tea towels at www.anniesoudain.co.ukRefresh your outlook with a spiritual break and feel restored. Subscribe to Flash💥Devos! This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit marianneabellipschutz.substack.com

Luke 13:24-25“Make every effort to enter through the narrow door, because many, I tell you, will try to enter and will not be able to. Once the owner of the house gets up and closes the door, you will stand outside knocking and pleading, ‘Sir, open the door for us.’“But he will answer, ‘I don’t know you or where you come from.’”+Jesus welcomes us in mutual trust and surrender--as brother, sister, friend.What will you downsize to cross this threshold into love and belonging?Today’s devotion also appears on redletterchristians.org daily WakeUp newsletter.Thanks to people like you, Marianne’s Substack is a reader-supported publication! 💥 This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit marianneabellipschutz.substack.com

Matthew 9:27-29Two blind men followed him, calling out, “Have mercy on us, Son of David!”When he had gone indoors, the blind men came to him, and he asked them, “Do you believe that I am able to do this?"+These men respected the power and possibility of restoration with Jesus. “Then he touched their eyes and said, ‘According to your faith let it be done to you.’” Do others see faith as a power in your life?Ask Jesus for mercy. You'll receive a whole lot more.Today’s devotion also appears on redletterchristians.org daily WakeUp newsletter.Thanks for subscribing! 💥 It’s good to be here with you. Sounds simple. Means a lot! This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit marianneabellipschutz.substack.com

Hosea 14:9Who is wise? Let them realize these things. Who is discerning? Let them understand.The ways of the Lord are right; the righteous walk in them, but the rebellious stumble in them.+When scripture claims “The way of the Lord is right,” it’s safe to follow the metaphor where it leads. Your awareness, discernment, and faith matter. There’s a map, good directions. Let the Wayshower lead.You can stumble on a smooth path, too. Get where you want to go with God.Thanks for subscribing! 💥 It’s good to be here with you. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit marianneabellipschutz.substack.com

Luke 18:1 Then Jesus told his disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up.+Jesus gave us stories with truths tucked inside, oddly familiar once-upon-a-time creations that shed light on real life. Parables help us think when moral dilemmas and crises strike. We wonder what’s worth doing and how to respond. If Jesus gave up when life got hard and hateful, what parables would we hear?Choose to persevere in faith, even though it’s hard. It’s harder without Jesus.*Maria Wickwire says “Anillos” was originally her award-winning ceramic sculpture installed in a pedestrian mall in Lake Oswego, Oregon. After Anillos was vandalized and toppled off her pedestal, it took Maria three years to inspect the ceramic shards. “Had any other sculpture been destroyed, I would have let it go,” Maria recalled. “The trauma seemed part of her story. Her new chapter began.” Anillos was reborn as a bronze sculpture with 18K gold embedded in the cracks left by the original statue’s destruction. “The gold in her scars emulates Japanese kintsugi, mending broken things with gold. The textured rings represent how Life’s experiences are written into the cells of our bodies.” Discover more about Anillos and her story here: https://mariawickwire.com/anillos-reborn/Artist and dear friend Maria Wickwire creates ceramic sculptures that reveal feminine archetypes, hoping to encourage healing and forgiveness in our sometimes splintering world. Find her work at www.Mariawickwire.comFeel free to share this Flash💥Devo! This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit marianneabellipschutz.substack.com

Isaiah 30:15God, the Master, The Holy of Israel, has this solemn counsel:“Your salvation requires you to turn back to me and stop your silly efforts to save yourselves.Your strength will come from settling down in complete dependence on me—The very thing you’ve been unwilling to do.”+Isaiah prophesied in the 8th Century B.C. Yet overscheduling, independence, and personal accomplishment still receive higher praise than God’s radical call to surrender, turn back, and settle down.Let silliness and joy model surrender to God.Thanks! 💥 It’s good to be here with you. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit marianneabellipschutz.substack.com