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Watch for the Blue Signs on the Interstate

By LisaNotes July 18, 2023 Community, Human: One Word 2023, Memorize Matthew 6 17 Comments

I was feeling a little nervous. All I could see along the interstate was trees and more trees (which I do love, by the way), but my stomach was already growling.

Jeff and I were traveling the roads between Alabama and North Carolina, and I needed a food plan. When I’m on empty, that’s more dangerous than no fuel in the car.

But when you’re in the middle of nowhere, you know your options are limited. What do you do?

You watch for the blue signs.

If you’ve driven on interstates in America since the 1971 Motorist Information Act went into effect, you’ve seen the big blue signs near interstate exits. They let you know that you are near restaurants or hotels or gas stations. They are often called logo signs.

But know that logo signs won’t give you a lot of information. There’s only room for six spots on the typical sign. And the price to get your business on the sign can be costly.

Guidelines vary from state to state, but in Alabama, here are a few of the qualifications for a restaurant to be put on a blue logo sign.

The restaurant . . .

  • Must be no more than 2 miles from the Interstate via an all-weather road
  • Must operate at twelve continuous hours per day, minimum six days a week
  • Must serve at least two meals per day
  • Must seat at least twenty people
  • Must have restroom facilities suitable for public use, and a public telephone.

Now I’ve never been genuinely, completely hungry. Even on the days when I fast for a colonoscopy, I still eat jello or broth. And I at least know that after a few more hours, I will be able to choose my food again soon.

But I have seen people who have literally been completely out of food. I’ve gotten a call from a young friend who needed food to feed her two children but had nothing in the seedy motel room where she was holed up. I’ve seen people come off the street with nothing but a rolled up garbage bag holding every article of life they own, and none of it is edible.

So when I read this week’s memory verse when Jesus was talking about food, I have to wonder who was in the audience that afternoon.

“Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?'”
Matthew 6:31

Not knowing where your next meal is coming from is enough to make a person anxious.

So how are we to not be anxious, Jesus?

When I’m on the road, I watch for the blue signs. If I drive long enough, I’ll come across some. And that will mean food is around the corner.

But for people who have no access to transportation or money or privilege in this way? Their blue signs look different.

They often are watching for other people. People who can share their own dinner or point them to a food bank or get them on their feet or vote for politicians who care about helping the poor not be poor forever by passing more humane legislation.

If we need help, find the helpers.
If we don’t need help, be the helpers.

Maybe this is how Jesus wanted his love to be spread and for anxiety to lessen.

Live close enough to fellow human beings to hear their stomachs growl—and for them to hear yours. If you have five fish and two loaves, share them with your neighbor. And eat what they share with you.

And if you can’t bring them food or receive their food, at least be or follow their blue sign on the interstate, between the states of need and satisfaction, between here and there.

Jeff spotted the blue sign on Interstate 40 before I did. (I’m sure I had my nose in a book, attempting to distract myself from the rumble in my tummy.) We followed the sign to Arby’s and I got my beloved Beef and Cheddar sandwich on a regular bun.

We are privileged in that particular way. We can afford the travel. We can afford the food.

But not everyone can. Our privileges vary.

May I grow in compassion to care when others’ bellies are empty (or hearts are broken or feet are tired or minds are disturbed). May I grow in responsibility to alleviate hunger in its irregular forms. May I grow in love to do what I can do, whatever it is or however it looks.

I don’t want to be anxious about my next meal.

I don’t want you to have to be either.

watch for the blue signs on the interstate

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Surprise! When You Don’t Even Have to Ask
—Grace & Truth Linkup

By LisaNotes July 14, 2023 Encouragement, Grace & Truth Link-Up 11 Comments

It was on Day 1 of our beach vacation last May that I made the decision.

For the remaining days we were there, I’d journal three pages by hand in a notebook at the beach every morning, first thing.

I can blame it on Julia Cameron. I’d been reading her book, Write for Life. In it she suggests this idea of Morning Pages. I’ve done versions of it in the past, but never at the beach, and never by hand.

I really don’t like making a decision on the fly though. I’d rather think about it for awhile. Mull over my options. Look at the pros and cons. 

Naturally, then, I’m not a big fan of surprises either. They can make me feel put on the spot, like I need to give an appropriate response to the surprise-giver with no time to think about it.

Later that evening on our way home from dinner, I suggested we stop at a Dollar General in Panama City Beach to purchase a spiral-bound notebook. I wanted a new set of pages to write in the following morning. I was committed to my spontaneous decision to begin Morning Pages.

Another family was walking into the store ahead of us as we pulled into the parking lot. They reached the clerk inside before I did. As I awaited my turn to ask if the store carried spiral-bound notebooks at the end of a school year, I overheard the woman in front of me ask the teen behind the counter:

“Do you have any spiral-bound notebooks?”

What? I turned my head quickly to Jeff. Did you hear what she just asked? About notebooks, too?

I listened to the clerk’s instruction to go two aisles to the left; the notebooks are on the bottom.

The family walked that direction, with me close behind. They picked out their notebook. I picked out mine.

We all paid and left the store.

I wonder what they needed their notebook for. It didn’t feel appropriate to ask. I was still in such surprise that we’d both wanted the exact same thing at the exact same time at the exact same place.

It reawakened in me the notion that, while we do often have to ask for what we want and need, sometimes we don’t.

Sometimes good and wanted things come to us without our asking.

As I wrote in my notebook on the beach the next few mornings, I delighted in its journey to me (although I loathed writing by hand; I’ve since returned to my beloved keyboard.)

I want to be more aware of the small but pleasant surprises around me in everyday life.

And, surprise!, maybe I can change my mind about surprises after all.

How do you feel about surprises? Share your thoughts in the comments.

I’m linking at these blog parties

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Grace & Truth Featured Post

When I walked along the beach, I only picked up the perfect shells to bring home. But after reading Susan’s post, I realize I missed out by not also keeping a few broken shells. 

Read all of Susan’s post here about finding beauty in the brokenness, then link your own blog posts below.

“Lessons from the Beach – Broken But Beautiful”

Review the rules here about adding your most recent Christian Living posts and how to be the Featured Post. Visit all four hosts social media here or websites here: Maree Dee, Lisa notes, Lauren Sparks, Tammy Kennington.

Now Let’s Link Up!

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

But Today . . . You Are Still Here

By LisaNotes July 11, 2023 Encouragement, Memorize Matthew 6, Pain 21 Comments

I’ve been watching for a sign, hoping for a change. A broken relationship ripples far and deep.

But change hasn’t come. It may never come in the way I hope.

The clock ticks on. I feel the pressure of lost time, every day, every season.

I’m out of options. None of my efforts have borne fruit. I feel like giving up.

We all experience losses. Some of them leave bigger holes than others. For the ones that create another Grand Canyon, pain piles into the pit, filling every empty corner.

In those days, when looking backward makes us sadder for what we no longer have, and looking forward brings tears for what is out of reach, we can only show up in today.

Today I notice my breath, in and out. I feel my fingers still typing. I see words on the screen pouring out of my mind, still working. I have breakfast in my belly, clothes in my closet, a partner by my side.

I have provisions. I have purpose. I have people.

This week I’m rememorizing Matthew 6:30 for the Summer Memory Challenge. Here Jesus is urging his followers to know they are loved, that they are cared for.

“But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?”

I see the grass in my own “field,” the front and back yard greenery that Jeff just mowed. Yesterday it was taller. Today it is shorter. Tomorrow it will inch higher yet again.

It’s never exactly the same two days in a row.

The only day I see it, feel it, smell it, is today.

I don’t know when or if my big loss will be resolved. I can only know that even if this pain lives alongside me the rest of my days, I’m not abandoned. I have love, I have God, I have grace.

Like the grass of the field, I’m here today. And on some tomorrow, I’ll be gone. Just like everybody else.

But today. Today. On this day in July of 2023, on this chair in this living room on this patch of earth, I’m still breathing, still thinking, still typing. I still matter. So do you.

And we always will.

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Share your thoughts in the comments.

Do You Know Who You Are NOT?
—Grace & Truth Linkup

By LisaNotes July 7, 2023 Book reviews, Enneagram, Grace & Truth Link-Up 8 Comments

Are You Your Mask?

When asked to describe ourselves, we usually begin with things we are. I’m a wife, a mother, a grandmother, etc.

But Scott Allender suggests in his new book that we should also realize who we are NOT.

Do we confuse the masks we wear with the person underneath the mask?

I wasn’t sure I wanted to read yet another book on the Enneagram to find out. I’ve enjoyed the ones I’ve already read. [My six favorite books on the Enneagram are here.] They’ve given me useful information to navigate life and my relationships. I don’t believe it’s a completely accurate tool, but it is uncannily convincing in many ways.

So I agreed to read and review Allender’s book, The Enneagram of Emotional Intelligence.

I’m glad I read it.

What You Don’t Know Can Hurt You

Allender includes some standard information on Enneagram types that I already knew, but needed reminding of.

For instance, as an Enneagram Five, Allender points out that my go-to approach in dealing with fear is to get more information, to try to make sense of things. (And he’s right; I know this about me.)

But Allender also reminds us that what we don’t know about ourselves can hurt us. Are our self-perceptions accurate?

“Emotional intelligence is not about willpower but about healthy self-perception and understanding what is truly going on inside of us.”

To be our most healthy selves, he proposes we raise our awareness in these areas:

  • Self-Perception
  • Self-Expression
  • Interpersonal Relationships
  • Decision-Making
  • Stress Management

By looking deeper to discover things we don’t know about ourselves, we continue the work of transformation. Then we can better face our fears and live more courageous lives.

“Our minds are hardwired to believe that everything we do is an intentional, positive choice, and yet all the while, fear is often what is running the show. We must excavate and confront these fears.”

Know Your EQ

Allender writes,

“Our ability to develop our EQ [emotional quotient or emotional intelligence] is the single biggest predictor of our personal and professional success. I am convinced that the first mistake many of us make when it comes to emotional intelligence is that we assume we already know ourselves and others.”

I can’t confirm the accuracy of this, but he cites research by organizational psychologist Tasha Eurich that “95 percent of people believe they are self-aware, but only 10 to 15 percent of people actually are.” Ouch.

I don’t want to be in that bottom 10%. So according to Allender, I need to stay aware of the following about my own type Five tendencies:

“With a proclivity to isolate themselves in their mental processes, Fives often miss the opportunity to involve others in their decision-making, which could help push them forward if they allowed it.”

Who am I not? I’m not a person who loved group projects in school. I preferred doing it all myself.

But I don’t have to stay that way. As I’ve aged, I’ve learned the benefits of asking for and accepting help. Because, like every other human, I need help, too.

Wake Up

“When all is said and done, growing our emotional intelligence in life, business, leadership, and interpersonal relationships hinges on one thing: waking up. Our relationships will thrive or decay in proportion to how awake or asleep we are.”

We’ll never understand everything about who we are. And who we’re not. But we can see more.

When we wake up to our own emotional intelligence, it’s healing for all of us.

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Do you know your Enneagram type, Myers-Briggs letters, or if you’re an Introvert or Extrovert? Is it helpful information to you or not?

Share your thoughts in the comments.

More here on the Enneagram:

Thanks to NetGalley + Baker Books
for the review copy of this book

I’m linking at these blog parties

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Grace & Truth Featured Post

We’ve likely all done this: we’re so busy taking photos or videos of an event that we’re not really present in the moment. 

I’ve done it. This is why I am drawn to Lois’s post. Do you too often settle for the lesser thing when the greater thing is within reach?

Read all of Lois’s post here at her blog, then link up your own blog posts below.

“How to Stop Being ‘Too Easily Pleased’ by Distractions”

Review the rules here about adding your most recent Christian Living posts and how to be the Featured Post. Visit all four hosts social media here or websites here: Maree Dee, Lisa notes, Lauren Sparks, Tammy Kennington.

Now Let’s Link Up!

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Do You Have to Try So Hard?

By LisaNotes July 5, 2023 Encouragement, Memorize Matthew 6 6 Comments

I’m doing absolutely nothing to keep it alive.

I don’t water it. I don’t fertilize it. I don’t add extra soil in the spring.

Yet the lantana by my mailbox doesn’t care. By spring each year, it starts all over with fresh green growth. The intricate yellow blooms show up shortly thereafter and remain prolific all summer long.

I like things that bloom without me having to force them.

I need to remember that about myself as well.

When life gets hard, I hunker down inside my head. I try to understand all the details of what’s happening. I journal more. I make lists of new practices to try.

And those things do help.

Outward things help, too. I talk with faithful friends. I read books by experts. I listen to inspiring music.

But the hardest thing for me to add in?

Nothing.

While taking responsibility for ourselves and working hard IS essential and 100% valuable, we don’t always have to push ourselves quite so hard.

This week’s memory verse is encouraging me to not feel so compelled to work, work, work, as I think of the lantana flowers in my front yard.

“Yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.”
Matthew 6:29

For context, Jesus had just said that the lilies of the field don’t have to toil or spin (Matthew 6:28), yet, wow, aren’t they beautiful?

If that’s a flower, how much more a human?

So I want to do a little less toiling and spinning this summer. And a little more trusting that Love can bloom around me and in me without my constant effort to make it happen. The love of God is foundational, with or without my push.

Maybe my lantana would be even more bountiful if I took more time tending it. I do pull weeds occasionally and prune it back when it begins taking over the driveway. Small acts of care.

But that’s enough. Its beauty returns year after year just the same.

Perhaps that’s the same with us, too. With love all around us and in us, maybe we don’t have to try so hard either.

And trust the beauty to return year after year just the same.

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Share your thoughts in the comments.

Read more musings on Matthew 6:

On the Blog—June 2023

By LisaNotes June 30, 2023 Archives No Comments

Here are brief summaries and links to posts on the blog, Lisa notes, in June 2023.

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See previous months’ archives here