Lisa notes

When You Need Extraordinary Grace on an Ordinary Day

By LisaNotes September 5, 2022 Grace, My stories 17 Comments

I wonder what the bank assistant is thinking. As she types our information into her computer, she’s listening to the conversation my friend and I have been having as we sit in the soft chairs across from her desk.

My friend: How many years have we known each other? 12?

Me: Actually it’s been longer than that. About 20 years.

[time elapses]

My friend: We’ve known each other about 12 years, right?

Me: More than that—20 years.

[time elapses]

My friend: How long have we known each other? 12 years, right?

Me: Nope. 20.

[time elapses]

The bank assistant prints out the paperwork. My friend signs her name.

My friend now starts in on her:

Do you like Elvis Presley? I like Charlie Pride. My mother liked Charlie Pride. Do you still have a mother? You’re lucky you have a mother. I wish I still had a mother.

The assistant smiles. Today is the first day she’s met us. But I’m guessing she won’t soon forget us. I wonder if she’ll go home tonight and tell her partner about today’s conversations.

Thirty minutes have passed. We’ve finally finished our business. We stand up to leave. I look the assistant eye to eye and genuinely thank her for her help and her patience.

She hands me her card. She tells me to call her if I need anything, anything at all.

She smiles again. I do, too.

In the future when I have moments of doubt—are there still kind strangers in this crazy, crazy world???—I will think of this bank assistant. Of her extraordinary gift of grace to us on an ordinary Thursday afternoon in an ordinary bank office when I walked in with my extraordinary friend.

My friend’s attention has again returned to me.

My friend: We’ve known each other 12 years, right?

Me: Sure. Can you believe it? 12 years and counting.

Where have you seen extraordinary grace on an ordinary day? Share your thoughts in the comments.

Image: When You Need Extraordinary Grace

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The Lord’s Prayer Is More – “Praying in the Reign”

By LisaNotes September 2, 2022 Book reviews, Prayer 6 Comments

“Then something special happened.

Somehow this collection of words morphed from being the Lord’s Prayer to becoming a model of prayer for me. They went from being an object for rote recitation to something alive.

It became a model for teaching me not only how to pray, but also how to live.”
– Bruce Green, Praying in the Reign

My copy of the book opens with this:

note_praying-in-the-reign

Bruce was one of my youth ministers (if we used that term back then) when I was a teenager, even though looking back, he wasn’t much older than I was. He was one of my favorites.

Bruce and another of my favorites, Barry, held many a devotional on weeknights in the back of Barry’s feed-and-seed store in downtown Madison (back when it was a quiet little town). We’d sit around on feed bags to listen and talk about scripture and Jesus.

But now that we’re grown up, we rarely see each other. So I was delighted to sit at Bruce’s feet again in his book Praying in the Reign about the Lord’s Prayer.

Praying-in-the-Reign-Bruce-Green

Bruce breaks the Lord’s Prayer into seven sections, then subdivides these even further with theological explanations but also with demonstrations of how the Lord breathes and moves behind the words.

“It is not a formula of words to be mindlessly repeated, but a spiritual pattern to guide and shape us. It is not an end in itself, but a means of leading us into a deeper righteousness.”

Because I recite this prayer often at the end of my Centering Prayer time, I appreciated hearing a fresh perspective on the individual phrases.

For example . . .

“When mercy and kindness are shown—the kingdom comes. When someone chooses forgiveness over bitterness—the kingdom comes. When the oppressed are uplifted—the kingdom comes. Whenever God’s will is enacted on earth—the kingdom comes.”

And this . . .

“Take the little word ‘for,’ which connects the doxology with the last part of the prayer about being delivered from evil. We pray this prayer of deliverance because (‘for’), ‘Yours is the kingdom.’“

Just as I remembered, Bruce is still very intelligent, still good with words, and still very kind. I’m grateful to connect with him again (even if one-sided this time) through this book.

More quotes:

“So I ditched the word ‘dependent’ for ‘desperate.’ If someone is desperate for something, they have to have it. They can’t survive without it. The Psalmist says, ‘As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, O God’ (42:1). We are more than dependent upon God; we are desperate for Him.”

 * ~ *

“Typically in our speech (if not in our thinking), we reserve the phrase, ‘God answered our prayers,’ for those times when God has brought about the results we desired. But these words can be a poor way of expressing our understanding of prayer as well as God’s work. It can also crush the spirits of others, because it sounds as if we’re saying He hasn’t answered the prayers of those who didn’t get the results they desired.”

 * ~ *

“When we submit to Christ, we enter into not just the kingdom (John 3:5), but we take our first step into heaven as well.”

revised from the archives

Share your thoughts in the comments.

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On the Blog—August 2022

By LisaNotes August 31, 2022 Archives No Comments

Here are brief summaries and links to posts on the blog, Lisa notes, in August 2022.

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See previous months’ archives here

7 Books I Recommend—August 2022

By LisaNotes August 30, 2022 Books I Recommend 23 Comments

“Who is each one of us, if not a combinatoria of experiences, information, books we have read…. Each life is an encyclopedia a library.
– Italo Calvino

Here are 7 books I recommend from what I finished reading in August.

[See previously recommended books here]

Image: 7 Books I Recommend

NONFICTION

1. WayMaker
Finding the Way to the Life You’ve Always Dreamed Of
by Ann Voskamp

Waymaker

With her trademark poetic prose, Ann tells the story of her marriage in its early years and how they decided on one more child. With the backdrop of God guiding the way, she lays her soul bare, admitting her faults, her weaknesses, as well as her faith. Even in the few spots where I differ in theology with Ann, I still draw inspiration from her beliefs and her honesty.

2. I Guess I Haven’t Learned That Yet
Discovering New Ways of Living When the Old Ways Stop Working
by Shauna Niequist

I Guess I Haven't Learned That Yet

Likewise, Shauna also shares a rough spot in her life in her latest book. She writes about her move to New York, her struggle with her family’s disgrace, and her new path of deepening her faith through uncertainty. I highly recommend.

3. Disarming Scripture
Cherry-Picking Liberals, Violence-Loving Conservatives, and Why We All Need to Learn to Read the Bible Like Jesus Did
by Derek Flood

Disarming Scripture

I’m always looking for books willing to challenge my blind spots regarding scripture and faith. This book shows examples in the Bible where Jesus (and Paul) shook up the current fundamentals of their day through a different interpretation of the Hebrew scriptures. We’re reminded that questioning our former beliefs can be an important part of a growing faith.

(This is a free Kindle Unlimited book, if you’re interested. I’ve been chasing these down while I have my free 3-month Kindle Unlimited subscription.)

4. Someday Is Today
22 Simple, Actionable Ways to Propel Your Creative Life
by Matthew Dicks

Someday Is Today

Another 5-star book from Matthew Dicks (see Storyworthy too!). This is a very practical guide to accomplish the things you want to. Matthew stresses the importance of capturing stray minutes, of being a chicken not a pig, of choosing our own finish lines, etc. You’ll be entertained as you’re guided and educated.

5. Grief Is Love
Living with Loss
by Marisa Rene Lee

Grief Is Love

After the loss of her mother, a pregnancy, and a cousin, Marisa offers her wisdom on grief: Let it be. She learned to stop running from her emotions, and instead let them run their course. Her book gives beautiful permission to view grief as proof of our love for the one we’ve lost.

FICTION

6. Sins of the Tribe
by Mark. A. Salter

Sins of the Tribe

In this novel Wally is thrilled to join the Bastille University Tribe football team. But as the plot unfolds, he sees behind the curtain of tribalism that often surrounds college sports. As a college football fan myself, I appreciate the plot line as well as the moral implications hidden in this story.

[Read my review of Sins of the Tribe: “How Loyal Are You to Your Sports Team?”]

7. Apples Never Fall
by Liane Moriarty

Apples Never Fall

Where has the mother gone? After Joy Delaney disappears one day, her husband Stan and four grown children are left to analyze what went wrong. Liane Moriarty never fails to tell an intriguing story with interesting plot twists. Very good book.

READING NOW

  • Share Your Stuff. I’ll Go First.
    10 Questions to Take Your Friendships to the Next Level
    by Laura Tremaine
  • Immortal Diamond
    The Search for Our True Self
    by Richard Rohr
  • The Downstairs Neighbor
    by Helen     Cooper
  • Why We Did It
    by Tim Miller
  • Beating Guns
    Hope for People Who Are Weary of Violence
    by Shane Claiborne, Michael Martin
  • Reading Like a Writer
    A Guide for People Who Love Books and for Those Who Want to Write Them
    by Francine Prose
  • How We Live Is How We Die
    by Pema Chödrön

What good book are YOU reading this month? Please share in the comments.

More books I recommend

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Share Four Somethings—August 2022

By LisaNotes August 26, 2022 Life updates 24 Comments

Near the end of each month, I share four somethings at Heather’s.

~ * ~ * ~ * ~

Something Loved

  • MY 14TH BLOGGING ANNIVERSARY!

This month I celebrated my 14th Blogaversary! When I started blogging 14 years ago, I had no idea of all the wonderful people I would meet along the way.

Image: 14 Reasons to Keep Blogging

I share here 14 reasons why you might keep blogging, too. The book giveaway remains open through August 28.

 ~ * ~ * ~ * ~

Something Gleaned 

  • MAKE IT EASIER

Have you found this to be true, too? If you want to schedule a meeting or lunch, etc., instead of saying, “I’m free anytime so let me know what works for you,” you get better results if you narrow it down to suggesting just two or three options, and working from there.

Research backs it up, too.

In this fascinating (but also a little laborious) book, Algorithms to Live By: The Computer Science of Human Decisions, authors Brian Christian and Tom Griffiths say this:

“In the case of interviews, it seems that people preferred receiving a constrained problem, even if the constraints were plucked out of thin air, than a wide-open one. It was seemingly less difficult for them to accommodate our preferences and constraints than to compute a better option based on their own.”

Jeff and I do this all the time when deciding on where to eat dinner. One person chooses three options, and the other decides between the three. It’s easier than this 30 minute process: “Where do you want to eat?” “I don’t care. Where do you want to eat?” 

Nobody wants to have to think TOO much.

[Bonus: If you have Kindle Unlimited, Algorithms to Live By is free. I recommend it, even if you only skim it, like I did.]

Algorithms to Live By

~ * ~ * ~ * ~

Something Saved

  • MOMS DEMAND ACTION

After the Stoneman Douglas High School shooting in 2018 in Parkland, Florida, I attended my first Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense meeting with my friend Kay. We stayed involved for a bit. But when the pandemic hit, meetings stopped.

This year, after the shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, my daughter Jenna invited me to attend another Moms Demand Action meeting with her.

Jenna has since agreed to lead our Huntsville/Madison group. I signed up to help work on data. My volunteer position doesn’t take as much courage as hers does, but I still feel a bit intimidated by it anyway. 

Do you know the #1 cause of death for children in the United States? Guns. It recently surpassed car accidents.

Firearms are leading cause of death for children

Everybody agrees we don’t want that. 

So if you’re like me and have guns in your home, let’s make sure we keep them stored securely. It’s an easy thing we all can do and potentially save the life of a child. 

Be Smart Gun Sense

~ * ~ * ~ * ~

Something Achieved

  • JOINED A WRITING GROUP

I count first steps as achievements because sometimes first steps are the hardest.

I took a first step this month and joined an online Mastermind Writing group with a few blogging friends I already know and a few new writers I didn’t know.

We’ve met twice already. It’s been exciting to talk about writing things in person (well, through Zoom) with others who enjoy it as much as I do.

Share your thoughts in the comments.

How Loyal Are You to Your Sports Team?
—Book Review of Sins of the Tribe

By LisaNotes August 25, 2022 Book reviews 8 Comments

Down here in the south, football is taken seriously. Perhaps more than it rightly should be. You declare allegiance to a college team at birth and stick with them through thick and thin.

Is this a good thing or bad? It depends. Some people love the rivalries; some people hate them. Some people enjoy the mania every fall yet take it in stride. But other people live or die by their team’s win or loss record.

That’s why I wanted to read this new novel by a former college football player Mark Salter, Sins of the Tribe.

Image: How loyal are you to your sports team?

Although Salter’s story is about the fictional Bastille University Tribe football team, you could easily substitute the University of Alabama or Auburn University. In Sins of the Tribe, Wally Hestia is recruited to play for Bastille University because he is the sole holder for his fellow teammate and mentally disabled brother Henry, a natural kicking all-star.

All goes well until the team’s coaching staff takes a turn for the worse, opening up Wally’s eyes to the underside of rabid sports fandom and the multimillion dollar industry that it supports.

The novel calls into question how far we’ll go to keep our team on top. At what point does morality draw a line? Or for some people, never come into play?

While the story is centered around sports tribalism, we could easily substitute other tribalisms as well: politics, country, religion, etc.

The novel’s theme of tribalism sounds a dire warning: We need to check who we’re giving our loyalty to.

It’s enough to keep me away from Facebook on game day.

How are the sports fans where you live? Share in the comments.

Read More:

My thanks to NetGalley
for the review copy of this book.