Lisa notes

Say It or Not? 3 Questions to Ask Yourself Before You Tell It All

By LisaNotes August 10, 2020 Encouragement 18 Comments

Saying Too Much?

Maybe you do this too.

You write something to share with others. Maybe for an email or Facebook post or your blog.

But then something nags at you. You wonder if you’re saying too much. Or too little. You question yourself.

Is this too personal to post?
Not personal enough?
Does is sound like I’m bragging?
Is my message too harsh?
Too long?
Too trite?
Too boring?

It’s often hard to put into words exactly what we’re thinking. And not everything we think needs to be said out loud.

So how are we to decide what to share with others and what to keep to ourselves?

3 Questions to Ask Before You Share

Here are three questions we can ask ourselves to decide how much to share.

1. WILL IT HELP SOMEONE ELSE?

If your experience or information would help another person learn something, be comforted, avoid a mistake, grow closer to God, or just be pleasantly entertained for a few minutes, share it.

2. WILL IT HELP YOU TO SHARE IT?

Sometimes you need to confess or testify or say something personal for your own healing. If telling others will mend your soul (and won’t hurt others in the process), let it out.

3. WILL IT HONOR GOD?

Pray about your motives. And if you’re unsure how your words will come across, ask a trusted friend to read it first. Make it your goal to bring grace and reflect God’s goodness through your words.

Benefits of Sharing

Sharing our words with others can bring unexpected blessings.

When we give away our words, we can . . .

Deepen relationships
Invite conversations
Clarify thoughts
Validate feelings
Witness to God’s faithfulness
Promote community
Strengthen love
Extend grace
Promp action

As Andrew Le Peau says in Write Better,

“Set your sights higher than finding your voice. Set them on making the world a better, truer, more beautiful place.

If we have something of value, we should be willing to share it.”

We never have to share all our thoughts with the world. That’s not helpful to others or to ourselves. But let’s do share something.

Share your something in words when you can. Brightening your corner of the world lightens it up for all of us.

Do you often second-guess what you write? How do you determine when to hit “send”? Please share your words in the comments.

Updated from the archives

When You Can’t Do It Perfectly, Just Do It Anyway
—Grace & Truth Linkup

By LisaNotes August 7, 2020 Encouragement, Grace & Truth Link-Up 5 Comments

I want to do it right. Whatever it is.

I want my kitchen sink to stay emptied. I want my car to be full of gas. I want my blog deadlines met on time.

And I want my quiet time with God to be rich.

But none of these happen all the time.

And when I know I can’t do something perfectly? Sometimes I’d rather not even start it.

But that’s flawed thinking. Doing something imperfectly is often better than not doing it at all.

I’ve been relearning that again specifically with my Bible reading. My preferred plan for Bible study is to read my daily chapters each morning, review my previous notes on those chapters each afternoon, then journal new thoughts about them in my Bible notebook.

But I kept getting backed up. I might do the morning reading, but then miss the afternoon notetaking for several days in a row. So I stop the reading altogether for awhile, in hopes of catching up on the journaling. Which sometimes happens. But often does not.

I’m tempted to stop it all because I’m hopelessly behind.

Do you know this cycle, too? It usually ends in a deadstop.

So instead, I’ve been trying a new approach. And it’s working.

I’m cutting out a few steps. I’m just doing the bare bones for now. I still try to read the chapters each morning and listen to how God is speaking through them fresh that day.

Then that’s it.

The next day, I move on to the next chapters. They’re not being documented in my notebook, or journaled about for future years’ reading.

But that’s okay. And even when I skip a few days or weeks altogether? That’s okay, too. God is still with me. Still present. Still actively engaging me in daily conversations in multiple ways.

I still prefer my original pattern of doing the whole thing: reading, reviewing, journaling. And there are days I still make it.

But in the meantime? I can’t wait for perfection. I can at least do my readings. I’d rather stumble forward awkwardly than lose progress altogether.

In this week’s featured post, Amanda shares some Bible study tips for us on our busiest days on her blog, Inspiring Passion for Jesus Christ.

Busy Day? Keep Your Quiet Time Simple (Bible Study Tips)

May she encourage you as she did me to let go of the guilt but still hold on to God in the busy days.

Thanks for sharing, Amanda! 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
Blog | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Pinterest

Now Let’s Link Up!

Does perfectionism slow you down? How do you overcome it? Share your thoughts in the comments.

A Biography of Holy Troublemakers and Unconventional Saints

By LisaNotes August 6, 2020 Book reviews 3 Comments

Sometimes we see too much ugliness in people around us. We need reminding of beauty. Give us more joy-bringers, justice-warriors, and love-spreaders.

Holy Troublemakers and Unconventional Saints is a new book about 50 such faith people, some long gone (such as St. Francis of Assisi and Harriet Tubman), some in our recent past (such as Rachel Held Evans and Mary Oliver), and some living right now amongst us (Thích Nhất Hạnh and Brian McLaren), but all who practiced radical kindness and mercy for everyone.

Although billed as an illustrated children’s storybook (ages 8 and up), it is informative to me as an adult. I learned about people I’d never heard of, and was encouraged to hear new stories about people I am familiar with.

These people come from diverse faith traditions. (Note: This is not an all-Christian storybook.) Author Daneen Akers gathers stories from a multicultural and multifaith perspective, but all the stories are about people focused on spreading peace in their communities near and far, each in their own way.

For instance, Gustavo Gutiérrez is a Dominican priest in Peru. He recognized that God had a strong heart for the poor and oppressed, so he decided this:

“Lifting people out of poverty isn’t just a nice thing to do,” Gustavo said, “It’s the just thing to do. It’s the right thing to do. It’s what God asks us to do.”

So one chapter in this book is devoted to him and his calling.

None of the people are perfect, of course. Because they all are, well, people. But as Daneen says,

“They’re human, just like you and me, so they’re imperfect, and yet they help us see and honor the holy in each and every person.”

I want to do this too, to see and honor the holy in each person.

So while I don’t agree with every theological belief of these 50 people (and neither would they all agree with each other), I am encouraged by their united passion to make the world a better place through their love for others and their devotion to the divine.

My thanks to SpeakEasy
for the review copy of this book

5 Links, Books, and Things I Love—August 2020

By LisaNotes August 3, 2020 Life updates, Links I like 20 Comments

Every month I share my list of favorite 5’s.

5 interesting things online
5 funny memes
5 articles about words
5 pictures of things I love
5 things on the blog

What are you enjoying this month?

~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~

5 Things Around the Web

4 Coronavirus, Conspiracy Theories, and the Ninth Commandment

[The 9th commandment: “You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.”]

“The good news is that we’re often wildly wrong about the nefarious intentions or beliefs of our political opponents. The bad news is that there does not seem to be a Christian exception to these polarizing trends. Our community isn’t so much resisting those trends, it’s empowering them.”

Also, this: Too many evangelical Christians fall for conspiracy theories online, and gullibility is not a virtue
Here’s what church leaders and concerned laypeople can do.

Discipline-Specific Guidelines for Classroom Social Distancing

This is an amusing “helpful” guide for college faculty as their students return to school.

We Can’t Talk about Racism Without Understanding Whiteness

“If the racial order is really to change – and there are those who don’t want it to – it is not just black lives or racial minorities that should be the topic of discussion, but the racial ideology that currently calls the shots in western societies.

This is what brings us to ‘whiteness.'”

And this: Multiracial Congregations May Not Bridge Racial Divide. Is your church multiracial? Mine is, but it still needs work.

COVID-19 Event Risk Assessment Planning Tool

This is a helpful map from Georgia Tech to assess your possible COVID exposure at any given event in the U.S., depending on where you live and how many people will be in attendance.

For example, with 50 people attending an event in my county, the odds are 92% that at least 1 person will have COVID. With 25 people, it’s 72%. (Of course these are just estimates. Who really knows? But it’s a good starting point.)

Why We Can’t Stop Waving at the End of Video Calls

Do you wave when you sign off a video call? Sometimes I do. We can’t help ourselves. Here’s why.

~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~

5 Things to Make You Smile

This first one isn’t necessary funny. But if you live in a football state, you’ll see it happening anyway.

~ * ~

Yes, I do understand this relationship. I had to use a pencil for this quite a few times back in the day.

~ * ~

This isn’t 100% true for me, but maybe a little? 🙂

~ * ~

~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~

5 Things About Words and Books

21 Mistakes Bloggers Make (and How to Avoid Making Them Yourself)

Darren Rowse always has interesting things to share. Maybe there’s something in here you can use yourself.

How to Respond to Common Racist Statements

Have you made any of these statements? Words have power. Click through this Instagram post to see how we can learn better to do better.

Racial Equity Tools

Lots of resources here to read and act on. If we’re serious about promoting racial equity, let’s keep working at it. Don’t grow weary.

Love Matters More

The subtitle pulled me in: “How fighting to be right keeps us from loving like Jesus.” I listen to Jared Byas on the podcast, The Bible for Normal People, with his co-host Pete Enns. I’ve read several of Pete Enns’ books (and loved them) so I’m looking forward to Jared’s new book coming out soon.

8 Books I Recommend

Here are short summaries of great books I finished reading in July.

~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~

5 Things I Love

Finished Pack of 12 Puzzles

I didn’t realize it would be possible, but I finished the box of 12 puzzles that I bought in March. Granted, they were all relatively small. But I enjoyed each one. Puzzles are stress-relievers for me during this extra time at home.

~ * ~

Zoom Lunch with 4 Corners

The last time my group of BFFs got together in person was right before the lockdown in March. Four months later, we finally found a video platform that worked for everybody and had our first Zoom lunch. It was great “seeing” each other again finally.

~ * ~

Planting Pumpkins

Our oldest granddaughter and her dad planted a pumpkin patch on July 4. She’s been so excited about it and is eagerly awaiting a pumpkin to pop up in the patch any day now.

~ * ~

Visiting Gramps

We enjoyed the granddaughters visiting for several days in July (and coming again this week!). The baby is already 9 months old.

~ * ~

A Walk in the Woods with Granna

One of our favorite things to do with our oldest granddaughter is just walking around the yard to see what we can discover. I wonder how long this will be fun to her. Hopefully several more years!

~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~

5 Things on the Blog

Repeat After Me: “I don’t know!”

We’ve all got some of this wrong about COVID-19. A little humility goes a long way.

Honestly, We’re Not Very Good People. Here’s Why.

Anyone with an attitude of moral superiority never made a good impression on Jesus. Honestly, we’re not very good people because of our pride. Review of Brant Hansen’s very good book, The Truth About Us.

Do You See the Family Resemblance?

We often spot family members because they resemble each other. What about the members of God’s family? Do we look alike?

It’s Not Fair! When You Resent Those Ruining It for the Rest of Us

Life isn’t always fair. Here are 5 steps to get over resentment when you feel others are making your life harder.

Are You a Racist?

We immediately cry, No, I’m not a racist! But when we dive deeper, we’re swimming in racism.

What did you enjoy in July? What are you looking forward to in August? Please share in the comments.

previous Links and Books

On the Blog—July 2020

By LisaNotes July 31, 2020 Archives No Comments

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

Even in the Mess, God Still Works—Grace & Truth Linkup (7/31)
God is always at work, always answering prayers, even in the mess.
8 Books I Recommend—July 2020 (7/27)
Here are 8 books I recommend from what I finished reading in July 2020.
Don’t Be Stingy with Your Encouragement (7/24)
Somebody needs to hear your encouraging words today. Don’t be stingy. Give them.
Honestly, We’re Not Very Good People. Here’s Why. (7/22)
Anyone with an attitude of moral superiority never made a good impression on Jesus. Honestly, we’re not very good people, thanks to our pride. Review of Brant Hansen’s book, The Truth About Us.
Repeat After Me: “I don’t know!” (7/20)
We’ve all got some of this wrong about COVID-19. A little humility goes a long way.
The Great Farmapalooza: Children’s Book Review (7/18)
If you’re looking for a fun board book for toddlers, The Great Farmapalooza is a lift-the-flap rhyming treasure, written by Jill Roman Lord and illustrated by Kelly Breemer.
You’re Not Alone—You are Still Held (7/17)
With our activities limited, there are days we feel isolated from others. But in our featured post, Stacey Pardoe gives us 3 comforting truths to remind us we are still held.
Do You See the Family Resemblance? (7/16)
We often spot family members because they resemble each other. What about the members of God’s family? Do we look alike?
I Need My Tears (7/13)
I don’t like to cry in public. But I need my tears. Tears cleanse our souls, heal our hearts, and reboot our emotions once our eyes empty them out.
Don’t Know What to Pray? Here Are 10 Things (7/10)
If you don’t know what to pray, Dr. Michelle Bengton can help you out. As our featured post for Grace & Truth linkup, see her list of 10 things you can pray.
It’s Not Fair! When You Resent Those Ruining It for the Rest of Us (7/8)
Life isn’t always fair. Here are 5 steps to get over resentment when you feel others are making your life harder.
5 Links, Books, and Things I Love—July 2020 (7/6)
Links and pictures of articles, books, and things I love – July 2020
Are You a Racist? (7/3)
We immediately cry, No, I’m not a racist! But when we dive deeper, we’re swimming in racism.

Even in the Mess, God Still Works
—Grace & Truth Linkup

By LisaNotes July 31, 2020 Encouragement, Grace & Truth Link-Up 2 Comments

Life is messy.

A year ago, I took a photo of one of our messy closets. It was for motivation. I wanted a “before” shot to encourage me to declutter.

But that’s all I did.

And life continued on. Despite its clutter, the closet kept functioning. It held my vacuum cleaner; it was home to spare batteries; it kept up with the extra odds and ends of our daily existence that had nowhere else to go.

Even in the mess, it worked.

Maryleigh Bucher reminds us in this week’s featured post that God still works when we’re messy too.

He answers prayers in the middle of our messes. He doesn’t wait for us to tidy things up first. He steps right into the clutter and works around it and through it (and sometimes cleans it up for us and/or with us!).

Last weekend, I got an itch to clean up one shelf of our messy closet. One led to two. Which led to three. With Jeff’s help (he encourages me to get rid of things!), we did a fairly good job of eliminating the junk and straightening up the closet. I snapped an “after” photo.

I open the closet door several times a day now, just to marvel at its neatness.

I’m sure the closet will get messy again. Life happens. And that’s okay.

The closet will still work for me. Just as God will, too. He always answers prayers, even in our messes.

Read all of Maryleigh’s beautiful post at her blog, Blue Cotton Memory, then add your own links below.

“Answered Prayers in the Middle of a Mess”

Thanks for sharing, Maryleigh! 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
Blog | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Pinterest

Now Let’s Link Up!

Have you seen God at work in your own messes? Share your thoughts in the comments.