Lisa notes

Daybook – October 2013

By LisaNotes October 3, 2013 Life updates 18 Comments

I am thankful . . . for tickets to Casting Crowns touring near us in October and for good friends to go with us

I am hearing . . . their newest single, “All You’ve Ever Wanted”

I am appreciating . . . their lyrics that I don’t have to work to make God proud of me

No more chains I’ve been set free
No more fighting battles You’ve won for me
Now in Christ I stand complete

I am pondering these words . . . “There will come a time when you believe everything is finished. That will be the beginning.” – Louis L’Amour

I am memorizing . . . Ephesians 1:5-6 this week with Do Not Depart

I am looking forward to . . . sitting under the teaching of a godly woman in a new small group I joined

I am praying . . . about the October series on Nameless Women in the Gospels at Do Not Depart

I am resolving . . . to stay open to whatever God sends my way, even the painful stuff

I am discovering . . . how it thrills me to see Jeff reading multiple books on vacation (who is this man with such a thick book???)

I am wondering . . . if I lived on the beach, would I ever get tired of this?

I am reading . . . excerpts from favorite books to post for #31Days in October

I am hoping . . . Jenna can keep living out her photography dreams without getting squashed by them 🙂 #WarEagle

One of my favorite things . . . curled up baby toes, these from my sweet great niece Millie last Tuesday morning

I am realizing . . . I might start enjoying Instagram after all

I am exploring . . . iOS7 features—one fave is the new way to close apps. You?

A few plans for this week . . . Outdoor Church this Saturday

A picture for thought . . . anybody recognize this man and know where he sits every night? (hint: he represents a favorite part of our vacation; sorry he’s kinda creepy)

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What’s something happening in your day today?

The Simple Woman’s Daybook
…where every day is a blank page

past Daybooks

Avoid distractions

By LisaNotes October 3, 2013 Book quotes, Pain 8 Comments

Everyday in October I’m sharing a short excerpt from an influential book of faith. Today is a favorite I’ve read over and over.

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Excerpt from Inside Out:

There is no place for sugar-coating in the life of a serious Christian.

Life is unspeakably sad.

But we’re more than conquerors over every cause of sadness.

. . . When hints of sadness creep into our soul, we must not flee into happy or distracting thoughts. Pondering the sadness until it becomes overwhelming can lead us to deep change in the direction of our being from self-preservation to grateful worship.

The richest love grows in the soil of an unbearable disappointment with life.

When we realize life can’t give us what we want, we can better give up our foolish demand that it do so and get on with the noble task of loving as we should. We will no longer need to demand protection from further disappointment.

The deepest change will occur in the life of a bold realist who clings to God with a passion only his realistic appraisal of life can generate.

– Dr. Larry Crabb

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We are not one in opinion

By LisaNotes October 2, 2013 Bible, Book quotes 10 Comments

Excerpt from The Twisted Scriptures

We are not in the fellowship because we see everything alike, or because we like everything we see. We are together because God has called us all, and received us all when we responded to his call.

God did not call angels, but men! We are human before we are called and we are human after we are called. We are not changed into the perfect image at once, but “we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being changed into his likeness from one degree of glory to another, for this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit” (2 Corinthians 3:18).

Being human, there is only one type of unity possible for us, and that is unity in diversity. If we do not accept this form of unity there is no other for us.

Fellowship results from a mutual sonship; brotherhood from a common Fatherhood. We are not one because we have all attained to the same degree of spiritual growth, but because we are all in the same family.

We are not one in opinion, but one in Christ Jesus.

– W. Carl Ketcherside

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Don’t be a bore

By LisaNotes October 1, 2013 Book quotes, Encouragement 13 Comments

Today begins 31 Days of Books—an excerpt from one of my favorite books on faith each day in October.

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Excerpt from Celebration of Discipline:

Celebration is a desperately needed grace for all those who are earnest about the Spiritual Disciplines.

It is an occupational hazard of devout folk to become stuffy bores. This should not be.

Of all people, we should be the most free, alive, interesting.

Celebration adds a note of gaiety, festivity, hilarity to our lives. After all, Jesus rejoiced so fully in life that he was accused of being a wine-bibber and a glutton. Many of us lead such sour lives that we cannot possibly be accused of such things.

. . . Joy begets joy. Laughter begets laughter. It is one of those few things in life that we multiply by giving.

– Richard Foster

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In review – September on the blog

By LisaNotes September 30, 2013 Archives 2 Comments

This month on the blog:

Sit with the pain (9/30) – Those who sit with us as we sit with pain are who we remember.
Join #31Days in October (9/26) – My topic? 31 days. 31 books.
What’s on your nightstand? September ‘13 (9/24) – Books I’m reading now or just finished
Honor the wounded (9/23) – Because when someone gets hurts for the cause, they deserve an extra salute. Shouldn’t we all participate in the healing of the wounded?
Follow me (9/18) – Jesus said, “Follow me.” Not a book. Not a doctrine. Not a religion
What are you known for? (9/16) – Don’t stop with the written word; you can’t have a relationship with a book
Where you find wisdom (9/12) – Someone wiser than Solomon is here. Where can we find him?
When old seeds bloom (9/11) – But two weeks later, Ronald had something he needed to say to me
Stupid or smart (9/9) – I’m working on releasing my fear of being stupid
What’s up in September 2013 (9/5) – Links and words and pictures from September
A new Bible memory challenge (9/3) – Resources to memorize Ephesians 1
Why? The practice of purpose (9/2) – Hank still had purpose. This was how he was loving his neighbors.

Sit with the pain

By LisaNotes September 30, 2013 Pain, Spiritual disciplines 27 Comments

It happened last spring, but I remember it vividly.

Jeff grabbed the little stool and moved it right in front of the rocker I was sitting in. He sat on the stool, looked me straight in the eyes, and took my hands in his.

But he didn’t talk.

He was there to listen first, to understand (as best as he could) what I was thinking, feeling. I had already accused him of not hearing me, not listening when I complained about a crisis of confidence, a doubt about purpose.

So here he sat now, with me, in my pain.

Who wants to do that?

Who wants to sit with even their own pain?

It feels wrong. To willingly sit with pain. Any pain, whether in the body or in the soul.

Pain of rejection
Pain of insecurity
Pain of conflict
Pain of addiction
Pain of confusion

I don’t want to hang out with those companions.

But no matter. Pain demands, “Look at me!”
Both eyes. Full attention. Now.
There are lessons to learn.

You’re not as strong as you think you are.
Life isn’t as “fair” as you want it to be.
The world doesn’t work like you expect it to.

They are hard truths, these truths that pain helps us grow to accept.

I look back at my life-turning events—divorce, single parenting, deaths, church breakups, illnesses. My view of reality adjusted with each one: on who I was and what life was about and how I was loved.

Yet in each season of pain, someone sat beside me. Taking my hand in theirs. Looking me straight in the eye. Letting me talk and cry and (sometimes falsely) accuse of not understanding.

After Jeff listened to me that day on the stool, I listened to him back. He reassured me I was okay. And said many wonderful things (I’m sure), none of which I remember exactly.

What I do remember is that he listened, cared, and was with me in the pain.

Maybe we’ll never understand the “why” of pain. Or even the “when.”
But it’s the “who” that will matter.

Those who sit with us as we sit with pain are those we remember.

Pain will never be my best friend, but it leads me into the presence of those who are.

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Are you stoic or a wimp when it comes to pain?
Who has sat with you in pain?
Is there someone you’re sitting with now?

Related:
When pain gets too noisy

More unusual spiritual disciplines here from An Altar in the World: