Psalm 51:10-12

Create in me a pure heart, O God,

and renew a steadfast spirit within me.

Do not cast me from your presence

or take your Holy Spirit from me.

Restore to me the joy of your salvation

and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.

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This beautiful prayer remains “the classic example of repentance in the Old Testament.” Later, Jesus modeled these truths and explained the rewards.

“Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.”

Look around when you’re in trouble. Who do you see?

“Dreaming of Home,” Maria explained, “contains a nest inside a thicket of branches forming her torso. Her head is balanced upon the branch tips and is open (empty?) allowing for something alive to be planted inside. The little birds perched upon her and the nest inside remind me that life goes on for the other life forms that don’t consume the news about the goings on of those weird mammals that seem to control everything.” The piece is part of “Hope in High Branches,” her new series that is “a product of my grappling with the concepts of ‘home’ and ‘nesting’ in these scary times.”

*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

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