earth to mm: Recent Episodes
Mary Madeline Schumpert
The audio versions and conversations of the topics discussed on earthtomm.com, MM addresses topics regarding theology, culture, Bible study, and just plain fun stuff for young adult believers. Earth To MM is committed to the gospel of grace and truth in her writing and podcast, and hopes to make theology approachable for the skeptic of Christianity and the long-time disciple of Christ.
In this episode, Lisa Jo and MM talk about:
For more of
For more of Mary Madeline’s poetry: @mmschumpert
In this episode, Laura and MM talk about:
- how Laura went from an marking/article style of writing to poetry
- processing posting what might be perceived as “controversial” poetic works
- why poetry is better at holding complexity than other writing forms
- the difference between transparency and vulnerability
- how the Gospel roots us in hope in our creative practices
- “Living twice” as writers
At the end, Laura will read “How Eve Felt,” one of her personal favorites of a poem.
For more of Laura’s poetry: @laurawifler
For more of Mary Madeline’s poetry: @mmschumpert
Other accounts and books mentioned in this podcast:
Thing Worth Living In - Phylicia Mansonheimer
How to Stay Married - Harrison Scott Key
For laughter: @itscourtneymichelle and @iamthirtyaf
In this episode, we chat about
- The stories behind each song in her EP, "Twenties"
- how to write songs as a college student
- the fact that Emily is still only 21 (lol)
- the gentle hand of God throughout the creative process
- Emily's song writing process
- Abby's involvement in the album, including the cover art
For more on Emily and Abby, find them on IG: @emilyguy4 & @abigial.krutz
For more of my poetry & creative journey here: @earthtomm
Click here to listen to Twentieson Spotify
Phylicia Masonheimer is an author, speaker, theologian.... and a poet. Listen to this podcast for her thoughts, practices, and pondering on poetry.
@mmschumpert
@phyliciamansonheimer
Email: mmschumpert@gmail.com
Contemplations of a Collegiate Christian
In this podcast, we talk about:
- Rose's journey of becoming a new poet and writer
- cringeyness about being the “poetry girl” (hahahaha)
- the art of subtley & avoiding cliques within writing
- how the Word of the God and prayer infuses its way into creative practices
- poetry as a bridge to beauty without being preachy
- two of my favorite of Rose's poems, about beauty & body image and compassion.
Find more of Rose's Poetry on here Instagram: @rosesnowzell
Check out more of my poetry and content here: @earthtomm
If you are interested in joining my movie and dinner club on October 1 in Birmingham, AL for the movie (trailer linked below!), message me on IG or email me for details, and check out the links below if you haven't seen the trailer or read the book already. No extra cost—just the cost of dinner and movie involved! :)
Surprised by Oxford Movie Trailer & Website
Surprised by Oxford Book Amazon Link
Surprised by Oxford Book Thrift Books Link
Contemplations of a Collegiate Christian Link
Written version on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/p/CjEa9SSJJ0o/
"Double Covenant"
They couldn’t find love
because they searched for it as
a penny on the sidewalk—
a quick pick-me-up,
happenstance,
pocket change,
an add-on to the appetizers of life.
When it was actually
water in a desert—
quenching,
hard-won,
and utterly
indispensable.
I finally found it
in the form of a covenant.
and it’s not a happened-to,
but a promise-to.
We’ve locked each other down,
sealed us tight in Him,
and the sweetest way
I’ve ever known.
(Fun fact about this poem: I wrote the first two stanzas four years ago, before I started dating Kyle, and the last just today. He’s been the last stanza to a lot of my un-finished poems. There’s something lovely about that to me.)
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/p/CqOUxlFp1kO/
I keep noticing You hidden. Tucked into the
conversation I had with a friend about all the woes and worries of this temporary home. I keep seeing you twinkling through song on my Spotify. I keep hearing you, somehow, wordlessly whisper to me in the afternoon wind. I keep wondering if my desires to scream out this Good News—despite the social repercussions—is Your divine pushing. Are You grinning right now, because I’m finally noticing? I saw a flicker of your kindness in my soul as I was on my knees this morning. Endorphins maybe? No. No, no. Something much more holy. Other-worldly.
I want to be convinced it is all coincidence. It feels safer there, in delusion. I want to say that it’s not You. This makes me seem smarter, more wise, less naïve, less optimistic, more accepted. Safe from cynical stares, from laughter. I am tempted to cover all of my highest, most sacred belief in skepticism, but I don’t today. I will stand mocked by my own old self, and those who can’t see. I’m finally learning how to cope without acceptance of either.
You see, I can’t do without You much anymore, and logical or not (depending on the source), I’m beginning to think chance is only truth by the promise of Your providence, stretching into the tiniest little details, sprinkled throughout our most mundane moments. It’s always expanding into the tiniest and biggest moments. There is no place this Good News doesn’t touch.
I wonder if, up to now, I’ve spent my whole second life drowning in my first birth. And You have been trying to hold my hand, pull me up, let my toes find a way above the waves, let my feet glide and spin on the seeming chaos of it all.
And I am Peter, with faith half the size of a mustard seed, once walking, now drowning.
But I want to dance.
Won’t you grow it? Please?
Ah, yes— that’s just it. You are.
I think I’m finally listening, with ears to hear.
Finally seeing, with eyes to see.
This podcast, we discussed Quina's salvation story, the evolution of her poetry, and her new children's book, Love Can, about the Holy Spirit's indwelling in the heart of believers.
Quina is an author, editor, and spoken word poet residing in Orlando, Florida, with her
husband and daughter. Her three children’s books—Love Made, Love Gave, and Love
Can—poetically communicate the Bible’s storyline through a Trinitarian lens of love. Quina has also contributed chapters to numerous books and has written scripts for two short films.
Links:
Instagram: @Quina_Aragon
Books: Love Made, Love Gave, and Love Can"What's a Woman's Worth?" Spoken Word Poetry
Quina's Salvation Story
In 2022, I challenged myself to interview 12 of my favorite artists, one for each month. Mckenzie was definitely on the top of my list, as she is a local Alabamian, and an incredible lyricist, and a believer in Jesus.
In this interview, we chatted about:
- her latest release "Kindness of Strangers"
- what it's like to be a part-time musician
- the challenge of not feeling cheesy or Christian enough for Christian music spaces and too Christian for secular spaces
You can check out her music on Spotify, click here.
To buy my book Contemplations of a Collegiate Christian click here. It's a perfect graduation present! :)
McKenzie Lockhart: @mckenzielockhart
Mary Madeline: @earthtomm
"It’s happening so much lately I feel so out of control. Somehow, I’m losing grip on my very own soul. When the conversation goes awry. When the envy strikes. When I run out of ambition for good. When I am convinced I could mess up the entire cosmos with one single slip—(they tell me this is impossible, but I can’t forget the Mother of All Living. Sometimes the story haunts me in my dreams, and I am startled, woken up, right before the fig-leaf scene.)
I am so talented at forgetting Him. Then, when I realize I forgot, my heart skips—how do I keep forgetting—what could this mean? Am I doomed to fall flat on grace forever, running Him slap out of love? Forever unhinged to my own animal of a soul? Someone, please—My God—find a key, box me in. Quick. Do whatever you need to do before I undo us all.
And in my realization of forgetting, I forget the cross. The soft landing for my every mess up. I forget the written Word, the historical permission slip for all my million questions. I forget You care about the clothes of bypass wildflowers and tweety birds I pass in the street. I forget the lightness of it all. I forget You, arms stretched wide, holding them out for the sins of the world then—and for a bear hug just now.
There is a flicker of something soft in my chest; I am finally catching my breath. I think this is what it means for the Spirit to wipe my tears. One Day I will hold His face between my hands, and say “You really were with me all along. I wan’t in control at all. It was just like You said. I wasn’t an orphan, was I? I think I forgot.”
And praise be—
One Day,
by some magic we call Grace,
I will forget all of this forgetting, too."
For more of MM's writing: @earthtomm
When your own undoing hits,
I pray you don’t run from your questions,
for often that’s the same as running from Him.
I pray you listen as He asks you
some Himself like this:
Do you truly know it all?
Can you inform me of something new?
Did you hang the moon in its starry host?
Or will you let me inform you a new?
Will you let me in?
And if you won’t,
(here it strikes again)
Why?
I wonder what you’ll do
when you will discover
God is a little bit curious too.
I guess I never thought asking was the same as unbelieving
I’ve always thought it an invitation
for His correction to my intuition.
But lately it seems everyone thinks
it’s wrong to wonder
I am beginning to wonder myself
if maybe it is
Honestly I’m not sure.
I just know that I can’t help
Overflowing with
how’s and who’s and what’s
and my goodness—the why’s.
Always, why, why, why
they whisper in my ear,
day and night.
And in all my conversations with
the God-Man above about this,
He is so un-condemning of my fears.
So very kind
So very unlike
everything I’ve heard come
from your very-sure tongue.
Now I’m beginning to wonder
something again…
when will it be your turn to come undone?
You can find more of MM's poetry at @earthtomm
Poem an infinite promise
Promise me that You will always be enough
that You will be forever pouring over,
old rooms of Your heart to discover,
newness of life in every drawer,
in a unlocked chestnut wardrobe,
another haunt set free,
another secret door
to another uncharted world.
Promise me that I won’t get bored.
That we won’t run low on things to discuss.
That we will trace Your goodness through the galaxies,
and the lines won’t end,
that they will circle in on each other,
loop and cross over until everything
is covered in You.
Promise me there is enough of You
for me and him and
the both of us,
the all of us.
But promise we will learn to love
the silence too,
let it hush over us,
quiet us with the conversation of
a known love.
And promise that there will always be more,
more more more
more in storage to pull out and out and out
in your store houses and hidden back doors,
more flowers growing, more to make,
more to taste.
I can’t get enough of You.
And I’m so hungry, always so very
starved for more of something good.
Hunger pains consume me for
something right, something that fits,
that make so much glorious sense.
I’m wildly afraid that You aren’t infinite.
I have such vivid nightmares that
Your well runs dry, like mine
and his and hers
and everyone’s I’ve ever known.
So much so I just might run.
Promise me I’m wrong?
That Your well is overflowing, gushing forth.
Take my hand, pinky in Yours,
and looking me into my waning eyes
and promise.
Then show me.
Take my hand and show me your storehouses,
and drip honey on my fingers,
oil on my head,
wring your rags dry, let them shower me
let me soak in the promise,
raining down,
turn it in my hands.
And when I get scared,
—and blinded and faithless—
will you take your thumbs, open up my eyes,
please, and show me again.
Amazon link to "And The Garden is Me"
Amazon link to "Contemplations of a Collegiate Christian"
Instagram: @youngkate__ and @earthtomm
To hear more of Young Kate, go check out this episode on the Narrative Society Podcast, which I personally really enjoyed listening to.
Mentioned in this Episode:
Cold Tangerines, Shauna Neiquest
The verbal recording of this Instagram post (click here).
Instagram: @earthtomm
Script:
I will recount my story of everything tumbling down, but only if You promise to repeat it back to me it in a way that makes sense. At least on that One Day, someday not even Your Son knows. Won’t you offer some clarity of the why’s and how’s and who’s? Unravel the damage, surrey the losses, point out the Grace, please, My God. I can’t survive this repetition without that promise. It will turn into insanity.
My imagination is huge but even it can’t seem to wrap its optimism around something this broken. I am finally arriving at things insurmountable. They all said this day would come. You must have some type of math I’ve never heard of. Every angle I think it over I come up in the red with joy and clarity. You said I would see Your goodness here, in the land of living? Well, can you prove it? I am beginning to think maybe you white-lied. Maybe it’s in Neverland, never finding it’s way to us until death.
Right here? Really? Where I lay my head at night? Where I peel my apples and count my losses? I’ve always been directionally aloof, hard of hearing too. Maybe I misheard. Took a wrong turn. Found myself in a life not my own. Maybe that’s what this is all about. Take my hand and pull down the winding path, or least tell me where a girl can find a map. Stop with all the hide and seek. I’ve grown out of that.
“You will find me when you seek me with all your heart,” You play me back.
Well, I’ll drag it to You. It’s heavy and barely beating. I found it washed up on the shore of my tears. I’m holding it up high, as far as I can, calling on You to do just like you said.
And somehow, someway, You do. You make me feel like growing, upward to the sky and downward, into the cool Earth, hidden. Like oddly enough, the stars sparkle happier in the night, and One Day, they will all gather together and turn into the sun. Like You could altogether undo me and I still somehow would come away more whole than before. For now, Your offer no answer but Yourself. And somehow, someway, this is only math that makes this adds up. He is the only thing that seems like enough.
How do You make magic from mud? Play it back for me, one more time, the genesis of us. I think this promise is woven strong in there, something about man from dust. Something about faith. Trust.
I’d like to settle where You are. Move into Your mind. Make my grave in Your love. Bury myself in Your point of view, arise twinkling with things unseen.
I think that’s exactly what I’ll do.
"God is good. So, so good. So, so, so good.
This life is a musical of praise to the glory of His name.
And it’s no longer cheesy to me. It’s not forced. This isn't what I’m supposed to say.
It doesn't even feel dramatic; it's simply an appropriate response to the God of the universe.
This praise? It’s simply the truest thing in my heart today.
My plea to you today, is to sing with me, Christian.
He is good.
So good."
Instagram: @earthtomm
Website: earthtomm.com
Book: https://www.amazon.com/Contemplations-Collegiate-Christian-M-Schumpert/dp/1952840171/ref=sr_1_1?crid=293NPCMIXVA4&keywords=contemplations%20of%20a%20collegiate%20christian&qid=1651092669&sprefix=contemplations%2Caps%2C510&sr=8-1&fbclid=IwAR1uDOeoGSvJ-_plPQUWC16tV256zZK6u5riBZ3HHsgqP9AW2H9zV5l7tW0
This episode, Emory Bradford and MM discuss the challenges and encouragements of being a college student at a Christian university, as well as spiritual disciplines that are important for college students and how to implement them.
For more about my book, Contemplations of a Collegiate Christian coming out 2022, or to join my launch team: https://earthtomm.com/about-my-book/
Website: www.earthtomm.com
Instagram: earthtomm
For more on Emory Bradford:
Instagram: joyfully.emory
Emily Frazier, a successful full-time photographer, talks about her decision not to go to college. Emily is now 24, but began her business as a teenager.
We talk about all the challenges of social life as a full adult and business owner at such a young age, accepting being misunderstood and underestimated, and the beauty of friendships with those in different life stages.
Emily is fun and friendly, and I think you’ll enjoy her insight on deciding whether to attend university or not. I know this conversations reminded me of timeless truths about decision making for career choices in general and God’s will for our careers, even as someone who is far beyond the decision to go or not to go to college.
For more about my book, Contemplations of a Collegiate Christian, click here.
Instagram: @earthtomm and @emilyjfaizer
Website: earthtomm.com
MM talks about her method for forming a healthy eating habit for undisciplined people!
Method outline:
1. Make it fun.
2. Set a short time period of strict focus on reading.
3. Notice the benefits during the strict time period.
4. Continue one with normal life!
Yep, that's how simple the process is. Listen to hear MM talk about why this works!
Additional resources:
Dietitian Brittany:
https://www.instagram.com/dietitianbrittany/?hl=en
Larissa Ness, my personal health coach who has helped me in healing my Hashimoto's: https://www.instagram.com/larissaness/
Dr. Mark Hyman:
https://www.instagram.com/drmarkhyman/?hl=en
Instagram: @earthtomm
Website: www.earthtomm.com
MM talks about her method for forming a reading habit for undisciplined people!
Method outline:
1. Make it fun.
2. Set a short time period of strict focus on reading.
3. Notice the benefits during the strict time period.
4. Continue one with normal life!
Yep, that's how simple the process is. Listen to hear MM talk about why this works!
Additional resources:
top 8 books of Hannah's lifetime
top 7 books of my lifetime
Instagram: @earthtomm
Website: www.earthtomm.com
MM talks about her history with exercise, body shame, and how she made exercising a habit!
Additionally, she guides listeners through her four-step process on how actually succeed in making exercise a habit that you will begin to love , not dread.
Method outline:
1. Make it fun.
2. Set a short time period of strict focus.
3. Notice the benefits during this short time period.
4. Continue on with normal life.
Yep, that's how simple the process is. Listen to hear MM talk about why this works!
Instagram: @earthtomm
Website: www.earthtomm.com
MM talks about her method for forming a Bible-reading habit for undisciplined people!
Method outline:
1. Make it fun.
2. Set a short time period of strict focus on this habit.
3. Notice the benefits while you are being strict.
4. Continue one with normal life.
Yep, that's how simple the process is. Listen to hear MM talk about why this works!
Additional resources:
6 tips for when you feel stuck in Scripture (+ free download)
How to actually read your Bible
Instagram: @earthtomm
Website: www.earthtomm.com
MM talks about her method for forming habits for undisciplined people!
Method outline:
1. Make it fun.
2. Set a short time period of strict focus on this habit.
3. Notice the benefits while you are being strict.
4. Continue one with normal life.
Yes, that's the process. Listen to hear MM talk about why this works!
Instagram: @earthtomm
Website: www.earthtomm.com
Click here for the written version of the blog to read and download for your time in the word with these questions written out!
Visit earthtomm.com for more resources.
Follow me on Instagram here: @earth_to_mm
I feel for you, because I have been you...
This post is for you, from a girl who used to be prayerless, who now can with confidence say her life is more prayerful than ever. These are the few things I want you to truly consider, to roll over in your mind, and ponder in your heart for a little while. These are the things that have made me more prayerful than ever, and thus—have given me more spiritual freedom and intimacy with the Lord than I have ever experienced.
To find the written version of this conversation, click this link.
For more resources, visit earthtomm.com.
Follow MM on Instagram here.