Lisa notes

Do You Tell Everything? Three Questions to Ask

By LisaNotes May 18, 2016 Spiritual disciplines 36 Comments

I keep a box in the top of my closet.

It’s full of notebooks of intensely private journals, words meant for no one but me and my future self.

But since 2008, blogging has become my main writing avenue. I process my thoughts and beliefs here. (Many bloggers of the present were once journalers in their past, yes?)

Yet these words are public.

Maybe you blog, too, or write Facebook updates or journal on Instagram.

If so, you’ve probably wondered about what you’re publicly sharing:

Is this too personal to post?
Not personal enough?
Am I self-promoting?
Will my words be misunderstood as too harsh?
Too soft?
Too trite?
Too boring?

It’s hard to put into words exactly what we’re thinking. And not all that we think needs to be put into words.

So how do we decide what to keep to ourselves versus what to share with others?

Three Questions to Ask Yourself

Here are three questions to ask ourselves to determine how much to tell.

1. Will it benefit someone else?

If your experience or information or questions would help another person learn something, be comforted, avoid the same mistakes, grow in their relationships, or just be pleasantly entertained, do share.

2. Will it help you to share it?

Sometimes you need to confess or to testify or to say something for your own healing. When telling others will help mend your own soul and won’t take others down in the process, let it out.

3. Will it ripple love into the world?

This question can be tricky because what one person views as loving, another may not. Be aware of your heart’s motives. If you then determine your goal is to spread more love—even through your struggles and doubts—share your words to plant more beauty and goodness into the world, whether or not you’ll be around to see the blooms.

Benefits of Writing

Showing others what we have seen brings gifts with it.

When we give away our words, it works . . .

To deepen relationships
To provoke conversation
To clarify thoughts
To validate feelings
To witness others’ experiences
To promote community
To strengthen love
To extend grace
To spread good news

And in the end, whether we keep our written words private or go public with them, the writing itself is worth the effort. Tristine Rainer says it beautifully:

“Even if you never share a sentence of your diary with anyone else, you will share it through your life. Its existence will touch other people by the way it changes you and permits you to develop in self-awareness, directness, and honesty.”

Words we write down are words we can return to.

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Do you share your writings with others? Keep a journal for yourself? I’d love to hear your thoughts on writing.

What Never Changes?

By LisaNotes May 16, 2016 Books I Recommend 34 Comments

I’ve been wanting to read this book for a long while—Interior Castle. It’s very old, written in 1577 by a Carmelite nun and mystic, St. Teresa of Ávila.

But, oh. It’s not coming easily.

Sometimes books (especially old ones) are like that—they don’t come easily.
Sometimes truths are like that.
Sometimes life is like that.

We think we want it; we think we’re ready. So we dive in, only to discover we’re in over our heads.

So I’m slowing down in Interior Castle and picking up alongside it, Entering the Castle, a contemporary book that follows the classic.

Reading one chapter at a time in each, I hope the newer book will help me better understand the former.

Because sometimes we need fresh words to explain old concepts.
Sometimes we need new containers to hold old truths.
Sometimes we need changing things to unravel unchanging ones.

St. Teresa wrote The Interior Castle only to her fellow sisters. She wanted to guide them to a deeper spiritual life through a vision she had been given. She had seen the soul as a diamond in the shape of a castle with seven mansions, each one getting closer and closer to union with God.

“He who bids me write this, tells me that the nuns of these convents of our Lady of Carmel need some one to solve their difficulties about prayer: he thinks that women understand one another’s language best and that my sisters’ affection for me would make them pay special attention to my words, therefore it is important for me to explain the subject clearly to them.

Thus I am writing only to my sisters; the idea that any one else could benefit by what I say would be absurd.”

But she was wrong to think her book would benefit no one else.

Almost 440 years later, we are still reading her words, interpreting them anew for our own lives and times.

Another set of her words has also proven to be a classic. This following prayer was originally discovered in St. Teresa’s prayer book after she died in 1582. Often referred to now as St. Teresa’s Bookmark, it says,

Let nothing disturb you,
Let nothing frighten you,
All things are passing;
God only is changeless.
Patience gains all things.
Who has God wants nothing.
God alone suffices.
— St. Teresa of Ávila

So as I attempt to read the harder, old book with the easier, new book by its side, I ask God to reveal the common thread in them both, the constant foundation that regardless of how much shifts in our world, in our lives, in our hearts, there is One who never changes, who always remains faithful in love and grace, regardless of the year, the culture, the individual.

Only God.

As St. Teresa says in Interior Castle (this much I understand),

“Believe me, by God’s help, we shall advance more by contemplating the Divinity than by keeping our eyes fixed on ourselves, poor creatures of earth that we are.”

I’m glad this never changes.

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What older classic have you struggled to read? What older book would you recommend to others? Please share in the comments.

Do you want to be poor?

By LisaNotes May 12, 2016 Guest posts 3 Comments

Does anyone ever aim to be poor?

It’s not usually our goal . . . even if Jesus did say:

“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”
Matthew 5:3

We typically want more (of whatever), not less.

I sat in a metal chair underneath a tent last Saturday morning for Outdoor Church. It’s a once-a-month service for the homeless and poor in our community, followed by a free meal. One of my friends, Brenda, sat beside me.

Read the rest here

* * *

I’m writing today at Do Not Depart for our #WhereIsGod series.

Will you join me there for the rest of the story?

Don’t Save “Amen” Until the End of Your Prayer

By LisaNotes May 5, 2016 Prayer, Spiritual disciplines 19 Comments

Amen.

It’s not just an ending for prayers.

Amen literally means “so be it” or “let it be.” We often use it to close our prayers.

But what if we opened our prayers with amen?
What if we met each morning with amen on our lips?
What if we lived daily moments breathing in and out, amen and amen?

Listen to David Frenette explain this “so be it” attitude in The Path of Centering Prayer.

“If you asked me how you could meditate, how you should relate to God, how you might pray, I would whisper, ‘Amen.’ If I remember only one simple thing at the end of my own life, I hope it will be amen.”

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“After any petition or prayer, ‘amen’ is the so be it, the let it be that releases that prayer or petition into God, with a radical trust that nothing more needs to be said, nothing else needs to be done.”

We say amen to fully agree with . . .

acknowledging God’s presence
accepting his will
believing his truths

“At some point, all contemplative practices end with the attitude of amen—so be it, let it be—radical consent to receiving God. That is the reward of the interiority, the secrecy, the living relationship with God of which Jesus spoke.”

Picture this imagery from Frenette. Our lives are feature films, and God is the background screen upon which these stories are held.

“God’s presence in awareness is like the cinema screen upon which all of a film’s images are projected. At the movies, we normally are quite caught up in its drama and not aware of the screen.

At the end of the movie, if we stay long enough, we will finally see the screen that was there all along, silently, secretly holding the film.

Similarly, at the end of your own movie, your own life’s story, you will experience the reality that silently, secretly held you throughout your whole life: God’s presence. Why not realize this presence during life? Then, you can be aware of God at the same time as you live your ordinary life. You can be at one with the screen and the movie at the same time.”

Unity with God involves opening our hands to receive what he gives, while releasing our grip on everything else.

“Contemplative practice is not something you do to find God. Contemplation involves being found by God.”

May it be so.

Amen.

* * *

Is it hard or easy for you to live amen? Please share in the comments.

When “I don’t know” is good

By LisaNotes May 4, 2016 Trust, Welcome 21 Comments

Does this ever happen to you?

I couldn’t decide what to eat for lunch. I was already hungry so I didn’t want to invest time in cooking. But nothing ready-made sounded good either. So I delayed.

And got hungrier. Maybe go get something? The drive didn’t seem worth it.

So I got even hungrier. And grouchier. Until I finally started eating junk food, whatever was in the pantry front and center.

Uncertainty Hurts

Being paralyzed by uncertainty can be painful. In small cases, it’s no big deal. (I could have missed lunch altogether and really been fine.)

But with bigger things, it chokes out true living.

I like to know my facts before I make a decision. Consider the options. I’m an information junkie, which is not always helpful when information is infinite. There’s simply not enough time to read every interesting book or watch every tutorial or gather all the opinions.

So what to do?

Welcome, Uncertainty

I’m on a yearlong quest to “Welcome” life as God gives it.

For the month of May, I’m welcoming uncertainty. I’ve been pursuing it for awhile already.

It’s always good timing to make peace with uncertainty because there’s always uncertainty . . .

in our country’s future,
in our individual communities, churches, families,
and even within ourselves—our emotions, our health, our beliefs.

But uncertainty isn’t all bad.

The Good Side of Uncertainty

Uncertainty opens up room for . . .

Faith
Growth
Humility

When we’re uncertain, we’re more teachable, more tolerant, and more adaptable.

In our uncertainty, we give God something to work with.

We learn to trust that he’ll keep teaching us and making things right as long as we’ll keep showing up and moving along with him, even when we’re unsure.

Brené Brown says in The Gifts of Imperfection that when we’re anxious about uncertainty, repeat the serenity prayer to ourselves:

With that wisdom, we can accept that we’ll never have all the answers. And that’s okay.

Make decisions anyway.
Take risks anyway.
Do something anyway.

For lunch today I already know what I’ll be eating. I like the certainty. But for supper? It’s anybody’s guess.

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How do you handle uncertainty? Please share in the comments.

Links, Books, and Other Things I Love – May 2016

By LisaNotes May 2, 2016 Life updates, Links I like 22 Comments

1 Second Everyday

[If you can’t see the 1 Second Everyday video, click here]

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Around the Web

• Candidate vs Candidate
This handy tool lets you compare any two Presidential candidates on their views on these 5 issues: immigration, gun control, the war on terror, trade, and abortion.

• Evernote tips
Do you use Evernote? I have for awhile, but not well. Here’s a helpful video to learn more.

• Journalism isn’t dying, but it’s changing WAY faster than people understand
Do you read the newspaper anymore? I still read my local newspaper (at least on the 3 days a week it comes out). Interesting article here on the the “what” basket, the “so what” basket and the “now what” basket of journalism.

• Snapchat Tutorial
I’ve found where my kids hang out the most! Snapchat. But the app is NOT intuitive to me. So Cliff Ravenscraft caught me up a few nights ago. Now I’m probably driving Morgan and Jenna crazy with all my snaps and stories.

~ * ~ * ~

On Reading

• What Should I Read Next? by Modern Mrs. Darcy (Anne Bogel)
I should never have found this podcast. If you want to wreak havoc with your to-read list, don’t listen either. But if you can’t help yourself, you’ll love the awesome book suggestions like I do.

• Podcast Interviews with Rob Bell
I love when my favorite authors meet up, in this case, Rob Bell and Richard Rohr (Episode 86), and Rob Bell and Krista Tippett (Episode 89) of NPR’s On Being. Both interviews are fascinating and have me wanting to read more of Richard Rohr’s books and Krista Tippet’s, Becoming Wise.

• 9 Books Every Content Marketer Should Read
I’m not a content marketer (I’m not sure what one is). But I love books like this anyway of timeliness principles. (And I especially love any list that includes one of my all-time favorite books, Made to Stick.

• Books I recommend from April’s reading
including Writing My Wrongs and The Contemplative Writer

• Currently reading

Beyond Fundamentalism
Confronting Religion Extremism in the Age of Globalization
by Rez Aslan
The Wisdom of the Enneagram
by Don Richard Riso, Russ Hudson
Entering the Castle
An Inner Path to God and Your Soul
by Caroline Myss
Interior Castle
by Teresa of Avila
Zealot
The Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth
by Rez Aslan
Persuasion
by Jane Austen
The Boys in the Boat
Nine Americans and Their Epic Quest for God at the 1936 Berlin Olympics
by Daniel James Brown

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Things I Love

• Lil’ Timmy the Turtle
This baby turtle crawled into our garage two weeks ago, so I took him to Jenna’s Kindergarten class. Lil’ Tim is now the class pet.

• The Greatest Save
Our city had its first dinner and auction for The Greatest Save, a Major League Basement charity that works to stop exploitation of children. Here is Jeff with MLB great Oscar Gamble.

• Photo Project
Do you print photos anymore? I still like to have a few hardcopies to put in photo albums, but I am SO behind. But I’ve recently printed several from 2015. Next, 2014. (I’m working backwards.)

• Comcast Cares Day
We were excited that Comcast chose Jenna’s elementary school for their Comcast Cares Day to give back to the community. Over 200 Comcast employees and school employees/friends planted flowers, painted bike racks, and beautified the school grounds.

~ * ~ * ~

On the Blog

• Stop the humiliation; Restore the dignity
There’s a whole population of people who are often treated as animals every day. No one deserves degradation. Plus book quotes from Writing My Wrongs.

• Is Greek life for you? It’s not what you think
A special kind of life—zoe—is unlike any others.

• Were they really the “good old days”?
It depends on who you ask. Plus book quotes from Between the World and Me.

• The circumstance isn’t the problem
“People are not disturbed by things, but by the views they take of them.”
– Epictetus

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What are you looking forward to in May? Please share in the comments.

Linking at Leigh Kramer’s
My previous posts