In praise of John the Baptist

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After Jesus finished giving instructions to his disciples, he left that area so that he could teach in the cities that he was going to send them to.

John’s disciples brought him reports about everything that Jesus was doing when John was in prison. John sent two of them to Jesus to ask him “Are you the one we have been waiting for, or should we keep looking?”

Jesus was healing many people of physical and mental illness at this time. He answered their question “Report back to John everything that you have seen and heard – the blind are able to see, the lame can now walk, skin diseases are cleared up, the deaf can now hear, the dead are raised back to life, and the good news is preached to the poor. Also tell him this – anyone who is not outraged by who I am is happy.”

After John’s messengers left, Jesus began to talk about John to the crowds. “What were you hoping to find when you went into the wilderness to see John? A reed swaying in the wind? Or perhaps a man dressed in fancy clothing? People who have glorious robes and live in luxury are in palaces. So what did you go to see? A prophet? Yes, mark my words, he’s that and far more. John is the one that the ancient prophets wrote about with these words – ‘Listen! I am sending my messenger ahead of you to prepare the way before you.’
Mark my words, no prophet ever born is greater than John the Baptist, but even the least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he is.”

MT 11:1-11, LK 7:18-28

“The kingdom of heaven has been forcefully and rapidly coming closer from the time John began preaching until now, and violent people have tried to hamper it by trying to take it by force. All the laws and the prophets pointed to this time, and if you’re able to believe it, he is the Elijah who was foretold. Listen closely to this!”

MT 11:12-15

And when everyone heard this, they praised God because John had baptized them. But since the Pharisees and the experts in religious law had not been baptized by John, they rejected God’s plan for them.

LK 7:29-30

The cure for anxiety

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Because of this I’m telling you – don’t worry about anything about your life or regarding your body. Don’t worry about what you will have to eat or drink or wear. Life is about much more than food or clothing. Think about the ravens – they don’t sow or reap or store up their food, and yet God provides for them. Don’t you know you are more valuable than them? Can anyone add even a minute to his life by worrying? If worry can’t change the little things, then why worry about the big things?

Why worry about what you’re going to wear? Think about the wildflowers – they don’t earn money for clothing or make thread, yet they are more beautifully clothed than King Solomon ever was! If that is how God adorns grass, which is temporary and insubstantial, won’t he do much more for you – you who don’t believe?

So don’t be anxious about what you are going to eat or drink or wear – those are the kinds of things that people who don’t believe in God focus on. Your Father in heaven knows of your needs.

Instead of striving for those things, strive for the kingdom of God, and then everything you need will be provided for you. Don’t be anxious, because your heavenly Father gets great pleasure in giving you the kingdom. Therefore, don’t worry about tomorrow, because tomorrow will take care of itself. Each day has enough troubles of its own to deal with.

MT 6:25-34, LK 12:22-32

Workers are few

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Jesus was traveling in a circuit among the villages so he could teach in their synagogues, share the good news of the kingdom of heaven, and heal everyone who was sick in any way. He felt compassion when he saw the crowds because they were exhausted and lost, like sheep without a shepherd. Then he said to his closest followers, “The harvest is heavy, but the laborers are light. Therefore, pray to our abundant God to provide more workers.”

MT 9:35-38, LK 10:2

Then Jesus went away by himself to a mountaintop to spend all night in prayer to God. When the first rays of dawn arrived, he called those he had chosen to him and they came. He also appointed 12 apostles. They were to be with him, to go out to preach, and to heal diseases and drive out demons.

Their names were Simon, (who Jesus renamed Peter); his brother Andrew; James and John – the sons of Zebedee; Philip and Bartholomew; Matthew and Thomas; James the son of Alphaeus; Simon the Cananaean – also known as the Zealot; Thaddeus – also called Jude; and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed him.

MT 10:1-4, MK 3:13-19, LK 6:12-16

Jesus wanted the disciples to only go to fellow Israelites. He instructed them not to go to other nations, especially any associated with Samaria.

MT 10:5-6

He told them “Announce that the kingdom of heaven is near.” Sending them out in pairs, he instructed them to “Heal the sick, bring the dead back to life, and cast out demons. Bring nothing for your journey; not a walking stick, a travel bag, food, money, or even extra clothing. Stay in the first house that welcomes you during the entire time you are in that town, eating and drinking what is offered to you, because a worker deserves his pay.”

When entering a house they were to “Say ‘Peace to this household.’ If a peaceful person lives there, then your blessing will stay with those who live in that house. Otherwise, your blessing will return to you. If the town does not welcome you and your words, then you are to shake the dust off your feet as you leave. When judgment day comes it will be easier on Sodom and Gomorrah that it will be for any town that did not show hospitality to you.”

The disciples went and did as he said, spreading the good news, preaching, and healing everywhere they went.

MT 10:7-15, MK 6:6b-13, LK 9:1-6, LK 10:1, 4-12

Jesus said “I’m sending you out like sheep among wolves. Because of that, be as clever as snakes and as peaceful as doves.”

MT 10:16, LK 10:3

Is art right for you?

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11 x 14 canvas.

Acrylic paint, gold oil pastel pencil, under-words from a prescription insert for a nose spray, warning labels from prescription bottles, magazine clippings, label from a box of multi-vitamins stamps, silver and black Sharpies, decoupage glue, rubber stamps, ink, watercolor.

Please message me if you are interested in purchasing this one of a kind artwork.

About how art is better for you than prescriptions.

Full image –
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Details –

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Reprogram Your Self

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A multi-leveled artwork, 20 x 16. Smaller canvases affixed to larger.

Text is from “Sri Isopanisad” by A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada.

Paper, acrylic paint, matte medium, decoupage glue, dragonfly wing, unknown insect wing, rhinestones, holograms from Visa credit cards, bits from a computer.

I may or may not include the words “Reprogram Your Self” at a later date on the piece – depends on if I can find a good font. Or if I feel brave enough to hand-paint it.

Background of canvas was painted the weekend my mother-in-law was dying. It symbolizes the transition from material to spiritual space.

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Please contact me if you are interested in purchasing this one of a kind artwork.

Orange collage

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Text is from “Sri Isopanisad” by A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada.

11 x 14 canvas. Matte medium, decoupage glue, acrylic paint thinned with water, sand, rhinestones, fortune cookie messages, used stamps, gold oil pastel pencil, light language inscriptions.

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Close up of one area

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At an angle

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Please message me if you are interested in purchasing this one of a kind artwork.

Poem – Spock

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Sometimes I think
that the only way
to get a feeling
is to make it.

Sometimes the best way
to get a feeling
is to be it.

Sometimes it takes a while,
but then again
I don’t know.

People who are called to love
are the ones who
need it.
People don’t want it
but they don’t know.

People are
starting
to see.

Once I was in the middle of a lot.
Once, the time was different.
Once you are a
little more
than a little
you’ll get it.

Check out the same way, and
continue reading the last thing.
Could you have been there?

Key into your own body,
knowing that it is
the best way
of keeping the time
and our own.

Poem – Guilt and expected death

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There’s a guilty feeling the caregiver has
when their loved one dies.
Be it spouse, parent, child,
you’ve taken care of them
for a long time
and they have finally
passed on.

Nobody talks about this.
They talk about how hard it is
to take care of
someone you love
for a long time,
someone who is terminally ill.
Someone who isn’t going
to get better,
and the only cure
is the grave.

Your life is finally back
to being yours.
Your time is yours.

You should feel bad if you
didn’t
give your time
to help them
– but you did, and now it is over.

There shouldn’t be guilt
about surviving,
guilt about feeling relieved
that it is over,
guilt about being glad
your duty is done.
But there is.

You are glad for them
that they are no longer suffering,
but also glad for yourself
that you can do
what you want to do
again.

You aren’t so crass as to say
you’re glad
they are dead,
but you are.

It is a weird feeling,
made weirder
by the mixture of grief,
the exhaustion of being
an unpaid,
untrained nurse,
there 24/7.

Dining with sinners

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Then Matthew invited Jesus and his disciples to his house for a large feast. A lot of the other people who were there were tax collectors and those who were disreputable, because these kinds of people flocked to Jesus. The Pharisees and their scribes complained about this to the disciples, asking them “Why does your teacher associate with tax collectors and sinners?” Jesus overheard their question and replied “Only sick people need a doctor, not the healthy. Go study this teaching from the Scriptures – ‘I desire mercy and not sacrifice.’ My whole purpose is to call sinners back to God, not those who think they’re perfect.”

MT 9:10-13, MK 2:15-17, LK 5:29-32