Lisa notes

On the Blog—November 2020

By LisaNotes November 30, 2020 Archives No Comments

Here are brief summaries and links to blog posts from November 2020.

5 Books I Recommend—November 2020 (11/30)
Here are 5 books I recommend from what I finished reading in November 2020.
Ways to Keep Hope Alive (11/27)
Read as Bev shares ways to keep hope alive for others and for ourselves in hard times. Link up and read at #GraceandTruth today.
What Will You Read Next? How Do You Decide? (11/24)
How do you decide what to read next? Here’s how I do it, plus some books recommended to me from #nonficnov.
How Can We Stay Close If We Don’t Communicate? (11/23)
If we keep avoiding people who disagree with us, how will we ever come back together? Let’s learn again how to talk together.
How Will Your 2020 Thanksgiving Look? (11/20)
Where will you focus your heart? Link up with Grace and Truth.
Is Someone Avoiding Your Table? (11/18)
Who is avoiding your table? When we make others uncomfortable, they’ll sit elsewhere. Learn to be a safe place.
Recommended Reading on Racial Justice (11/16)
To learn more, read more. Here are 27 books I recommend on racial justice. Then do more.
In This Transition, Keep a Steady Focus on God (11/13)
We don’t know how our transition situations will be resolved. But as believers, we can keep our eyes steady on God.
Have You Outgrown Your Clothes? (11/12)
When we outgrow our clothes, we don’t have to keep wearing them. We have a new wardrobe awaiting us in Christ. Study Colossians 3.
Fiction and Nonfiction Books that Go Together (11/9)
Books can come in pairs, too. Here are some fiction and nonfiction book pairings from what I read in 2020.
5 Reasons to Love Being a Grandparent (+ Pictures) (11/6)
Here are 5 reasons why I love being a grandparent. Join our #GraceandTruth Linkup.
5 Posts and 5 Favorite Comments (11/5)
Here are five favorite posts from the blog last month, along with five of my favorite comments from you beautiful readers. Thank you for sharing your hearts and wisdom here.
5 Things to Make You Smile—November 2020 (11/4)
Here are 5 things to make you smile.
5 Links I Love + 1 Second Everyday Video—November 2020 (11/3)
Here are 5 favorite links I love this month.
5 Reasons to Read Nonfiction Books + 5 Favorite Books to Read in 2020 (11/2)
If you don’t already love nonfiction books, here are 5 reasons for you to read them. Plus 5 books to read. #nonficnov

5 Books I Recommend—November 2020

By LisaNotes November 30, 2020 Books I Recommend, Life updates 18 Comments

That’s the thing about books. They let you travel without moving your feet.
—Jhumpa Lahiri

Below are 5 books I recommend from those I finished reading in November. See all my recommended books here.

This week I’m sharing 5 days of 5 favorite things. Here’s the schedule.

5 Books I Recommend (Monday)
5 Things to Laugh About in 2020 (Tuesday)
5 Links I Love (Wednesday)
5 Favorite Comments on 5 Posts (Thursday)
5 Snapshots of Time and 1-Second Everyday Video (Friday)

Nonfiction

1. The Color of Compromise
The Truth about the American Church’s Complicity in Racism
by Jemar Tisby

Jemar Tisby gives us a history of racism through the lens of the Christian church in America. It’s not a pleasant journey. But it’s an essential one to see. He offers insights on better steps moving forward. An important book.

2. White Fragility
Why It’s So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism
by Robin DiAngelo

This one is written by a white lady to a white audience about how we as whites can learn to be less defensive when confronted about racial issues. DiAngelo helps us see things from a different perspective, a needed perspective, so we can step away from our blind biases.

3. The Paper Solution
What to Shred, What to Save, and How to Stop It From Taking Over Your Life
by Lisa Woodruff

If you want to get a handle on your paper clutter, this is an excellent place to start. This is a how-to book, broken down into manageable steps. I hope to put more of it into practice soon.

Fiction

4. Deacon King Kong
by James McBride

Set in the housing projects in New York in 1969, this novel begins with an old church deacon shooting a drug dealer. From there you see the ripple effects throughout the neighborhood of how people are affected by the shooting.

5. Transcendent Kingdom
by Yaa Gyasi

The author of this novel grew up in the largest city near me, Huntsville, Alabama. Her book is partially set in Huntsville as her family from Ghana acclimates (and doesn’t) to American culture. Both this book and Deacon King Kong have strong church themes running through them.

Reading Now

Always a Guest
Speaking of Faith Far from Home
by Barbara Brown Taylor
Searching for Certainty
Finding God in the Disruptions of Life
by Shelly Miller
Total Meditation
Practices in Living the Awakened Life
by Deepak Chopra
Attention!
The Power of Simple Decisions in a Distracted World
by Rob Hatch
The Lazy Genius Way
Embrace What Matters, Ditch What Doesn’t, and Get Stuff Done
by Kendra Adachi
Uncomfortable Conversations With a Black Man
by Emmanuel Acho

What good book are YOU reading this month? Please share in the comments.

My books on Goodreads
More books I recommend

sharing with Modern Mrs. Darcy

Ways to Keep Hope Alive
—Grace & Truth Linkup

By LisaNotes November 27, 2020 Grace & Truth Link-Up 4 Comments

They were prisoners in a POW camp in Vietnam during the Vietnam War. Isolated and tortured, they knew they needed hope to survive.

One by one, the inmates started tapping hopeful messages to the others by using their tin-metal drinking cup.

This is the story that Bev shares as our Featured Post this week. She reminds us that while we may feel like prisoners in our own homes this year, we too need to keep hope alive for others and for ourselves.

“Remember that God is not flummoxed or frustrated by what’s going on. Ask Him what He would have you learn in this wilderness season.”

Read all of Bev’s post here for practical ways to send and receive messages of hope. They include: calling friends more often; sending an uplifting text at random times; writing old-fashioned snail mail; put on praise music as you run errands; memorize one new scripture each week; plus more.

Keep Sending Out and Receiving Messages of Hope

Let’s also remember to receive messages of hope that are sent to us!

Add your blog links below to encourage others.

Thanks for sharing, Bev! Here’s a button for your blog.

1. Share 1 or 2 of your most recent CHRISTIAN LIVING posts. (No DIY, crafts, recipes, or inappropriate articles.) All links are randomly sorted.

2. Comment on 1 or 2 other links. Grace & Truth linkup encourages community.

3. Every host features one entry from the previous week. To be featured, include this button or link back here on your post (mandatory to be featured, but not to participate).

We encourage you to follow our hosts on their blogs or social media.

MAREE DEE – Embracing the Unexpected
Blog | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Pinterest

HEATHER HART & VALERIE RIESE – Candidly Christian
Blog | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Pinterest

LAUREN SPARKS
Blog | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Pinterest

LISA BURGESS – Lisa notes
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Now Let’s Link Up!

How are you keeping hope alive in 2020? Has it been difficult for you, too? Share your thoughts in the comments.

What Will You Read Next? How Do You Decide?

By LisaNotes November 24, 2020 Books I Recommend, Reading 20 Comments

You’ve finished reading your book. How do you decide what to read next?

Here is how I decide what to read next:

I look to my blogging friends.
I watch what pops up on the “New Releases” shelf at the library.
I get book titles from podcast interviews (including Modern Mrs. Darcy, of course).
I take suggestions from in-person friends.
I write down recommended books listed within a book.
I notice nudges about specific topics I want to learn more about.

But in November? I add to my to-be-read list from #Nonficnov posts. It’s an overload of the best of the best nonfiction books from bloggers who read.

Below are the titles I’ve collected this November from the blogging challenge. I’ll first get samples sent to my Kindle from Amazon. If I like them, I’ll check my library and digital library for a free copy, or see if Net Galley has a free copy for review. If I can’t find a free copy and I really, really think it’ll be a great book, I’ll buy a copy.

Have you read any of these books? Would you recommend that I read them?

1. In Other Words
A Language Lover’s Guide to the Most Intriguing Words Around the World
by Christopher J. Moore

How Can We Stay Close If We Don’t Communicate?

By LisaNotes November 23, 2020 Book reviews, Community, Linger 11 Comments

Should We Always Avoid Confrontation?

Are we retreating deeper into our separate corners instead of staying in common, open spaces?

(But I’m not talking about social-distancing! Please social distance. I’m talking about communication-distancing.)

Are we losing communication with people who don’t think like us?

I find myself sometimes shutting out the opposition altogether. If someone frustrates me on Facebook or constantly believes the “wrong” thing on Twitter, I mute them or temporarily snooze them for 30 days (I highly recommend this feature on FB).

And maybe that’s okay. It’s just social media, after all. I need to protect my mental and spiritual health, as well as my relationships. Sometimes stepping away from the chaos is the right thing to do.

But should I avoid all confrontation in real life, too?

Don’t Stay Too Far Apart

When we rub against each other in person (not literally of course; this is 2020), our opinions can provoke harsh thoughts from others, or worse, harsh words.

But should we shut it all down? Stop talking about things if we disagree?

If we can’t talk to each other, hash it out, even get noisy about it when we’re too exasperated for anything else (Lord, forgive us), what’s left?

How can we come back together if we stay so far apart?

I like staying in my bubble. It’s comfortable there. No conflict. No disagreements. No ugly-stirrings-inside-me that I have to calm down.

But my bubble is small. And the world is large.

If we’re to love the world, we have to puncture our bubbles and go into the world.

Red and blue. Together.
Black and white. Together.
Christian and Muslim and Atheist and Hindu and Jewish. Together.

And if we’re to tell the world about the love of God, we have to be the love of God.

Let’s not run away from the people we disagree with.

Let’s keep each other’s best interests at heart. Learn to talk to each other again, trust each other again, and love each other again.

It’s what we’re made to do. It’s who we are. It’s who I want to be.

* ~ * ~ * ~ *

Still in the Same Family

In Eugene Peterson’s short devotional, A Month of Sundays, he talks about the two brothers in the Parable of the Prodigal Son. Peterson points out that when the older son talks to his father, he refers to his younger brother as “This son of yours,” instead of “this brother of mine.”

The older brother “would not associate with anyone who had behaved so badly.” (Is this me?)
“He would not be tainted by any kinship with a prodigal. (Is this me?)
“The prodigal was his father’s son but not his brother’s brother.” (Is this me?)

“But when he denied brotherhood, he also forfeited sonship.”

Please don’t let this be me. I don’t want to forfeit my sonship because I deny my brotherhood.

Remember we are still members of the same family. We still have the same Father.

We are still brothers and sisters. Let’s not give up on each other.

Let’s linger together a little longer.

Are you struggling, too, with people on the “other side”? Share how you’re coping.

Article by David Brooks:

Nine Nonobvious Ways to Have Deeper Conversations:
The art of making connection even in a time of dislocation

My thanks to Net Galley + WaterBrook
& Multnomah for A Month of Sundays

How Will Your 2020 Thanksgiving Look?
—Grace & Truth Linkup

By LisaNotes November 20, 2020 Grace & Truth Link-Up 7 Comments

What are you doing for Thanksgiving this year?

“It’s ok to have no answers. It’s ok to hold our expectations in open hands. It’s ok to do something completely different. Or {gasp} nothing at all!”
– Linda Stoll

I need to hear Linda’s words. Our 2020 Thanksgiving plans are shaky this year.

Pending no rain, we’ll have an outside meal with my in-laws, physically-distanced around a bonfire, also depending on the unpredictable Alabama temperatures for November.

And another unknown factor. An aunt is currently battling a likely unsuccessful fight against COVID in her nursing home. We await news daily of her condition.

Thanksgiving in 2020 definitely will look different this year.

But regardless of what we do—or DON’T get to do—I also need these words from Linda:

“What matters most is not what the menu holds for November 26th. More than ever, it’s where our hearts are focused.”

Read all of Linda’s words here as our Featured Post for this week. Be encouraged by them. Then share your own blog posts at the linkup below.

Let’s Talk Turkey by Linda Stoll

Thanks for sharing, Linda! Here’s a button for your blog.