Lisa notes

Share Four Somethings—March 2023

By LisaNotes March 24, 2023 Life updates 34 Comments

Near the end of each month, I share four somethings at Jennifer’s linkup: what I’m loving, reading, learning, and eating.

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What I’m Loving

AURA DIGITAL FRAME

Jenna and Trey (my youngest daughter and s-i-l) bought us this Aura digital frame for Christmas. I have really enjoyed seeing the “new” pictures on it everytime I walk by!

Mine changes photos every minute, but you can adjust it to change every 15 seconds up to once every 24 hours. It will also play videos. I have it set to turn on at 8am every morning and turn off at 8pm.

Jenna and I both can email pictures directly to it via the cloud so I stay up to date on the cutest photos of my grandson. I highly recommend it.

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What I’m Reading

THE DANCE OF THE DISSIDENT DAUGHTER

On a lunch break at the Christian conference we attended in January, we were sharing favorite books we’ve read. One of our new friends highly recommended Sue Monk Kidd’s older book, The Dance of the Dissident Daughter: A Woman’s Journey from Christian Tradition to the Sacred Feminine. I checked out a copy this month from the library.

I’ve since noticed this book is also one of the suggestions for Lory’s Spiritual Memoir Reading Challenge this year. Perfect for me.

Now that I’m halfway through the book, I understand why it gets the recommendations. I’m currently on the section about healing the feminine wound. Kidd writes:

“Maybe in the end we cannot make healing happen; perhaps it is, after all, a grace. But we can put ourselves in its path. We can create a healing refuge for ourselves.”

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What I’m Learning

NEW TECHNOLOGY

I was on a zoom call recently that was quite fun because a few newbies to zoom were also on. It was a delightful circus of “Can you hear me?”, “Honey, is the TV still on?”, “I can’t see myself!”

It reminded me I need to continue learning new things. The past few months I’ve been doing that. I joined our local Moms Demand Action team to help with their database. It’s forcing me to learn things online, through tutorials, through more experienced leaders, and through trial and error.

Sometimes I feel stupid when I can’t figure something out; other times I feel elated when technology actually works like I want it to.

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What I’m Eating

LEFTOVERS FROM THE FREEZER

I don’t remember when we made the decision. But one of the best ones Jeff and I have made in the past year or two was this: label every leftover we put into the freezer.

It’s eliminated all the mystery that we used to have: Is this taco meat or just browned beef? Is this the chicken stew from last month or 3 years ago? What even is this?

And because we can identify the leftovers, we eat the leftovers.

What’s something you’re learning or loving this month?

Share your thoughts in the comments.

Find Your One Word’s Twin and Opposite
{One Word 2023 March Linkup}

Link all of your One Word blog posts below. Share an update about your One Word in the comments.

Twins and Opposites

Let’s take a closer look at your One Word for any hidden jewels. Here are three suggestions to try.

1. DEFINE IT
Look up your word in the dictionary. Does it have more than one meaning? How many of its meanings are you using for your practice this year? Which meaning is most applicable to you?

My answer:

For my word HUMAN, I expected these definitions:
1. (noun) person
2. (adjective) relating to mankind: human nature
3. (adjective) having the attributes of man as opposed to animals, divine beings, or machines

But I didn’t expect this one:
4. (adjective) a. kind or considerate, b. natural

I like #4 the best for my practice.

2. SAME AS
List some of your word’s synonyms. If you had to choose one of these as a backup word for this year, which would you choose? Why?

My answer:

Some synonyms for HUMAN are:
mortal; personal; biped; individual; civilized; fallible; fleshly; forgiveable; vulnerable.

Forgiveable? True, but I wouldn’t have expected it on the list.

If I had to choose one as my backup word, I’d choose vulnerable. That’s how being a human feels to me.

3. OPPOSITE OF
List some of your word’s antonyms. Seeing what your word does NOT mean might help you understand what it does mean. Any insights from its opposite?

My answer:

Antonyms for HUMAN include:
noncivilized, merciless, inhuman, abstract, inanimate, immortal, nonentity, plant.

The most surprising to me? Merciless. I count it as a compliment to us humans that merciless is an opposite.

This One Word March linkup will remain open for two weeks through Thursday, April 6. Each link shared here will also be shared with our One Word Facebook group.

Next month’s One Word linkup will open on Sunday, April 23 (every linkup in 2023 will be on the 23rd).

If you’d like to receive our monthly One Word emails .

What synonym or antonym brought you an insight about your One Word?

Leave a comment here about your One Word.

Get more One Word ideas here

Link Up About Your One Word!

The 40 People of Lent

By LisaNotes March 17, 2023 Human: One Word 2023 20 Comments

In the Wilderness

It’s a wilderness season.

I wonder that for the little girl I see on the elevator.

On that day, the calendar tells me it is March 1. But something is off.

When the elevator door opens on the 7th floor and the child steps in, I immediately notice the “Happy Birthday” tiara on her head.

I tell her happy birthday.

I’m not that person who initiates lengthy conversations with strangers in elevators (see this funny insurance commercial with Dr. Rick on the elevator). I’ll do the obligatory friendly southern chit-chat—How’s your day going? Can you believe it turned cold again?—but I don’t want to be too nosy or too annoying.

But with this girl in the elevator, it feels safe. So I keep going.

How old are you today? She smiles and says, “7.”

Her grandmother says, “But she hasn’t had 7 birthdays.”

A Season for Loving

I’m puzzled. She continues, “Her true birthday is February 29.”

Oh! I’ve often lamented for February 29 babies. Having to wait every 4 years for the actual date must feel torturous, especially when you’re young.

The Lenten season feels like a season of waiting, too. A season of wilderness wanderings as Jesus walked away from life and people as he knew them to prepare himself for life and people with God in a new role.

I can’t say I totally get it, of course. But I get it enough.

It’s a wilderness season for me, too.

For awhile I’ve not been able to spend proper time with some of the people I love either, not been able to live the role I want to play in their lives. It makes me sad beyond words.

Yet others I love are still still actively involved in my life.

I don’t want to take these people for granted.

This isn’t a season for only waiting on what’s to come. It’s also a season for loving who’s here now.

40 People of Lent

So I’ve declared this Lenten season as 40 People of Lent. For each of the 40 days, I am attempting to connect with 40 different people. Preferably in person, but if not face to face, at least via video or voice.

Some days it’s easy. Every Monday, for example, I may interact with 50 different people. Pick one. But other days I may see no one but my husband. (And I already counted him as my person on Day 3.)

On those days I have to be more intentional. I have to proactively seek out another human being to connect with. (I’ve settled for an email only once, so far.)

I’m halfway there. 20 people down, 20 more to go.

The Goodness of Kinship

So for Day 7 on March 1, I counted the February 29 birthday girl as my connection, albeit a loose one.

This little wilderness child will never know that she’s part of my spiritual practice, that I’m still remembering her. And the doll she was holding that looked like her.

I asked her about the doll, and she told me the doll’s name is Maddie, a birthday present. I assume Mama spent a few extra dollars for the custom-designed doll for this year’s gift. (Next year’s gift on actual Leap Day in 2024 will have to be a knockout.)

As I look into the eyes of 40 different human beings during Lent, I spot similarities between us as well.

Yes, we each have arms, legs, ears. But the similarities go deeper.

We each are a God-designed image that connects with the other, together creating a beautiful network of goodness in this wilderness adventure we’re living in.

So thank you birthday girl on Day 7. And Phyllis on Day 11. And Bridget on Day 14.

I can’t predict who will fill the back half of the 20 slots.

But I look forward to the kinship.

Do you know someone with a February 29 birthday? Did you choose something to give up, or add, during Lent? The 40 People of Lent fits nicely with my One Word this year, Human.

Share in the comments.

Talk to a Human. Can Technology Do This?

By LisaNotes March 14, 2023 Human: One Word 2023 14 Comments

In Love with Technology

It’s a quiet Monday evening. I’m relaxing in the recliner in my living room, typing on my laptop.

I’m grateful for how far we’ve come with technology. I remember when I used to have to stay seated at our clunky desktop computer near the modem if I needed the internet. Or else tether my laptop to the modem via a long red cord weaving its way through the house to give me portable internet access.

Now I just flip open my laptop or tap on my phone, and voilà.

Tonight I’m signing up my friend for her own internet service. My friend isn’t techy and can’t do it herself.

But thanks to the internet itself, I don’t even have to talk to a person to do it for her.

Just me and the friendly internet bots will get it done tonight, no other humans required.

The Dreaded Dropdown Menu

I have my friend’s information handy, so I easily navigate the first set of questions with her new internet provider. No problem. Type, submit, type, submit.

Until they ask a question I can’t answer. I explain my situation as a representative go-between for my friend.

But the bot doesn’t understand.

It offers me a dropdown menu to solve our problem. But none of the options fit. We’re caught in an endless, hopeless cycle.

I feel the heat rising. I’m now talking out loud to the bot, who of course can’t hear me.

I can no longer sit. I stand up and pace the room as I wait for the internet chat helper to actually help.

Option 1 or 2?

The bot returns, offering a phone number to connect me with their support team. I’m happy.

I dial the number on my phone. But it only gives me a phone tree of options to choose from, none of which are applicable.

I push # to return to the home menu. But the automated voice only repeats the same limited options.

I’m really getting angry now. When I’m offered “For option 1 say yes,” or “For option 2 say no,” instead I say, “I want to talk to a human.”

But no representative comes.

So I say it again, “Talk to a human.” Louder, each time. “Talk to a human! Talk to a human!!!”

I’m stuck. This is insanity.

Technology Is Changing Us

Then the miracle happens. A human magically appears on the line with a friendly, “How can I help you?”

The accent is difficult for my southern ear to understand, but that’s okay. It’s another human being, a flesh and blood person who can listen to my situation and who can think beyond an automated messaging script.

I’m thrilled.

We solve the problem. My friend’s internet service will go live in five days.

I click off the phone. I sit back down in my recliner and reflect on my mad behavior over the past hour.

I started as a person who only wanted to type with an internet chatbot; it’d be quicker, less intimidating, more efficient, I had thought.

But now I’m a person who loved nothing more than talking to another person. A person like me.

Technology can do a lot of things for us, thankfully. Maybe technology can even push us closer to other humans.

As a person, I really do like people best.

Talk to a human. Yes. I’m learning. Human is my One Word of the Year, after all. And I’m understanding why—more and more—as the year goes on.

I close my laptop. I put it under my nightstand. We’re disconnecting for the night.

I start a conversation with my husband instead.

Do you prefer texting or calling? Chatbots or in-person?

Share in the comments.

Read More:

How Can You Be a Better Human?
When we learn to treat other humans better, we become better humans ourselves. Read Carlos Whittaker’s new book, How to Human.
When You Say Too Much to Other People
I’m wondering if I said too much in the blog post. Do you ever get a vulnerability hangover, too?
Is It Human to Be Humble?
Learning humility isn’t for wimps. By God’s grace, be brave and human enough to do it.

sharing at these linkups

Platinum Rule or Golden Rule?
—Grace & Truth Linkup

By LisaNotes March 10, 2023 Encouragement, Grace & Truth Link-Up 11 Comments

The noise. The poop. The trampled grass.

It’s that time of year again.

The Canada geese are all here and all mating.

From my perspective on the shore, it looks and sounds quite violent on the lake outside my window. The geese honk and hiss and fight in the spring as they begin pairing up.

It doesn’t sound like fun or look like love to me.

Maybe the geese don’t know about the Platinum Rule: “Do unto others as they would want done to them.”

The Platinum Rule is tweaked from the Golden Rule, which we all know is “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.”

The only problem with the Golden Rule is that sometimes we can give bad gifts when others don’t prefer what we prefer. And vice versa.

To best love each other, maybe we need to ask more questions—What do YOU desire? What feels like love to you? In what ways can I really help you?—instead of just doing what we like better.

Back in the lake, I wonder if the female goose would prefer the male goose follow the Platinum Rule instead of the Golden Rule when he practically drowns her in the name of procreation.

Irregardless, once they choose each other (actually it’s the female who makes that decision), it’s til death do them part for a goose couple. If they’re ever separated for even a short amount of time, they greet each other again with an elaborate display of honks and head rolling.

Over the next few months, I look forward to seeing baby geese on the lake.

But that will come with more loud honking as the parents fend off other geese (or humans) from coming too close to their babies. And there will be more poop in our driveway (a goose can defecate over a pound per day).

I guess this goose love works for them, whichever rules they instinctually follow.

May we find what works for us, too.

Share your thoughts in the comments.

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Grace & Truth Featured Post

“Maybe I’m not trying hard enough.”

Sometimes we throw that accusation on ourselves. But willpower alone isn’t always enough. We need God’s help. Yet even then, we can’t hand over our own responsibilities.

Read all of Helen’s post about more than willpower here at her blog, then link up your own blog posts below.

“Strength Is More Than Just Willpower”

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Go Barefoot: The Practice of Walking on Earth

By LisaNotes March 8, 2023 My stories, One Word 2013: Jesus, Spiritual disciplines 6 Comments

Most of us spend so much time thinking about where we have been or where we are supposed to be going that we have a hard time recognizing where we actually are.
BARBARA BROWN TAYLOR

The trail was listed as 2 miles. But it felt much longer.

It’s been a few years now since we walked this trail. In one of the last remaining virgin forests in North Carolina—the Joyce Kilmer Memorial Forest—the view was grand.

But the terrain was touchy. You had to go slow. Not only because of the incline, but because of tree roots and rocks and stumps.

You had to pay attention to where each foot landed.

You had to notice.

You had to stay grounded.

It’s a spiritual discipline to stay grounded. To remember how to walk on the earth as we live in the Spirit.

To remember that where our feet are now is also where our heart needs to be. In this moment is where I AM resides.

Sometimes we do not know what we know until it comes to us through the soles of our feet, the embrace of a tender lover, or the kindness of a stranger.

Touching the truth with our minds alone is not enough.

We are made to touch it with our bodies.

Back home, the walk is easier. I leave my shoes unlaced in the closet. I walk barefoot outside, stepping quickly over the hot pavement to cool my toes in the grass. Ever watchful for thorny weeds or ant resorts, I still enjoy the sensation of nothing under my feet but earth.

It’s when feet are uncovered they’re most aware of the ground.

To go barefoot is to live raw.
To notice each step.
To track the refined nuances of pain and pleasure.

To watch for prints of love around you to match its stride and pace your journey to its walking speed, slow enough to pay attention but fast enough to keep moving.

So I walk.

With shoes off. On holy ground. Here and now.

When we stepped off the mountain trail after the supposed two miles had ended, our feet were tired.

But our souls were grounded.

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revised from the archives

What holy ground have you stepped on lately? Share your thoughts in the comments.

The Practice of Walking on Earth is #4 of 12 spiritual disciplines from Barbara Brown Taylor’s wonderful book, An Altar in the World.