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Spark My Muse releases two audio episodes per week.
WEDNESDAYS are SOUL SCHOOL episodes ( power-packed short episodes for everyday life. )
FRIDAYS are conversational interview style episodes with guests from a wide variety of backgrounds on interesting topics to get you thinking.
Today we are talking about control: Free will, luck (chance), and the power of nature versus nurture in how things in life turn out for us when it comes to these sorts of things. If you enjoy the show, share it with someone, or write a review on iTunes!
Today’s guest is Diana Hsieh, PhD in Philosophy, University of Colorado, Boulder
*my note: This line of inquiry poses something interesting about a common worldview (though largely an unconscious one) in American culture and it is a discourse quite popular in some circles also about “culturally relative morality” vs. morality sourced and referenced in a Creator who is objectively good and perfect. C.S. Lewis reflects on this in his book “Mere Christianity”. If you are interested in commenting about this in any way, you can do so at the FACEBOOK group PAGE here.
BIO: Nicole Unice is on staff at Hope Church in Richmond, Virginia, and the author of the breakout book: “She’s Got Issues” which she wrote from her counseling and ministry experiences. The book produced and encouraged a refreshing and radical honesty that she’s built on in her new book “Brave Enough”.
Enjoy the Shownotes and links below and please share this with friends that you know CAN be “Brave Enough“. Thanks for listening!
#GetBraveEnough
xo
~Lisa
P.S. Would you like to get a special, cozy Spark My Muse t-shirt?
on the Richmond VA place and new midtown location.
1:30
Nicole’s podcasting experience (the Becoming Podcast) doing hundreds of episodes with her pastor doing 15 minutes shows for commuters.
Lisa asks: Is “campus” a Christian code word for mega church?
2:40
How she grew with Hope Church for 18 years, as they started out small in an elementary school “cafetorium”.
3;50
The “Youth Lodge” plans and the unique setting with wetlands and hills.
5:10
On the importance of Beauty, Setting, and Art in architecture and church building planning to evoke the imagination, inspire awe, and connect with the heart.
6:40
Collaborative workspace, and place where kids can do their homework and where people can enjoy the time away in a beautiful setting.
7:40
“artist come through the side door of the soul and preachers come through the front door.”
8:50
The history of the church and Christian tradition is one where the Church is source of beauty, wonder and connected to art because God is a the Creator.
9:40
Her first book: She’s Got Issues
6 main issues women (and men) face that can be a hinderance.
A rich relationship with God can come to a dead end as the ways we do life stop working.
12:00
How was it received? The #1 thing Nicole heard was, “You’re so honest.”
Why would honesty be such a revolution in Christianity?
12:40
She leaned into that for her next book “Brave Enough”
13:00
The story of how she got the title for the book:
To the question, “Do you think you can be brave?” Lucy Pevensie in the Chronicles of Narnia says, “I think I can be brave enough.”
14:35
Few women will self-identify as brave. [and not many men will either]
“After we identify the hinderances, what does it look like to walk forward in freedom?”
15:00
Brave Enoughis about Grace and its effects, inside and in action.
15:40
Nicole answering the question: Do men have the same problems in this area?
16:00
“Women hearing teaching from women is like hearing in your first language.”
16:30
Ways Nicole leads and teaches men.
17:00
on how women have to translate teaching from men into their “language” and context.
18:00
On how, similarly, Brené Brown was challenged (by a man) to include men in her writing and teaching. (Lisa)
18:40
How men and women have similar vulnerabilities though they might deal with them differently.
19:40
“up speak” tones in language in women and men revealing different insecurities. (Lisa)
21:00
Nuggets from the Brave Enough book:
How the ingredients mixed into something she didn’t expect. It follows a narrative “arch of the heart”. How we can be full and free and confident in life.
22:30
on why (inner) freedom is illusive for men and women.
On “Fake Grace” in our head. (the excuses we make or how we blame others). Inviting God/Jesus into those places.
24:10
We all (default) and go back to rules and laws and how to short circuit that pattern.
It’s about resetting the heart with a new spiritual reality.
25:00
Radical honesty about our ugly parts inside the heart.
25:30
Nicole’s Parable: The violently stopping of the elevator door…(and how it relates to our soul).
26:10
Open ourselves to God’s Presence and healing.
26:10
(Lisa) God uses what bothers us about other people is a mirror of what we don’t like in ourselves.
27:20
How our baggage works to impede our progress.
Brave Enough includes major parts on forgiveness
28:00
God’s breathing on us and giving us the mission of forgiveness, first.
As you may know I work at Spring Gate Vineyard. In well under a year we went from zero to being the industry leader in central Pennsylvania with our winery, tasting room, and events.
I went from knowing very little about wine to explaining our wines (about 29 as of now) in detail hundreds of times per week. I’m no expert, but I’ve learned a lot.
I think it might be fun to not just share with you some of the ways to better understand, enjoy, and understand wine for yourself, but also tie in some deeper truths about living and life that go along with viticulture, winemaking, wine appreciation, and enjoyment.
Want to ask a question about wine? Ask away!
Use the voice mail feature! (or leave a comment)
Now about that wet fur stuff…
If your glass or bottle of wine ever is a hint “poochy” smelling, then oxygen is to blame. Other stinky smells that come from oxidized wine are wet newspapers, burned marshmallow, or stewed fruit.
Some oxygen brings out the full aroma (bouquet) of the wine when it is first opened. This is called aerating the wine. That’s why people will swirl a small amount of wine in their glass before they sip it. The smell and taste improve with some air.
But, if wine has been opened for more than a few hours it goes stale. You can get about 24 hours of “not too oxidized wine” if the bottle is sealed and the air is pumped out with a wine pump like this inexpensive one that pays for itself after two uses.
Additionally, a bad seal on the cork might be the problem. Either way, the wine is not unsafe to drink, it is however not very enjoyable, no matter how much of a dog lover you are.
• WINE TIP
Don’t drink wine if it’s brown in color and make sure to not store it in a hot place. Most wines need to be kept around 45-60º depending on the variety. Reds can be a little warmer and whites should stay a little cooler to keep their optimal flavor.
The Life Lesson I learned:
I can get a bit “corked” too, sometimes too, right? Have you ever felt like you’ve been overexposed to other people, too much busyness, and negativity? I have. A little interaction can bring out our great aromas (our best selves), but too much will make us go stale and unpleasant. It’s best to seal ourselves off after a bit and recuperate so we can be more enjoyable to friends and family too. :)
My dad told me that trees have roots that go down as far as the tree is tall. That was an impressive statement and it stuck with me for a long time.
It was, of course, untrue.
He didn’t know much about trees. He was, by his own admission, a “city boy”.
I don’t blame him; lots of people think tree roots go deep.
They don’t.
Any photo of a knocked down tree makes it clear.
See? Roots go out not down. (The mistake about roots becomes pointedly obvious.)
Tree roots reach out, not down.
Roots aren’t so much much like anchors hold the tree to the ground, but rather more like feet planted in the soil, in all directions, to create stability and nourishment. They can extend nearly as long as a tree is tall.
The California Redwoods seem even more impressive now, don’t they?
Forests are interconnected places where trees stretch out their roots and touch the other trees nearby, below the surface.
A web of root holds a forrest together as if the trees are playing a long game of forest footsie.
The takeaway:
Like the myth of tree roots, the roots of community don’t go down either–in ideal circumstances. Instead, they go out, or the forest dies.
On Sunday, I’ll go back to church for the first time in 2 months. My work schedule has kept me away, but I’m happy to go back and remember everything I need to remember all over again:
• Who I am in God, in community, and in the scope of human history and the Church worldwide and over the course of eons.
Maybe I’ll learn something new about me, or about church (God’s people), or about what sacred ritual does for me.
I haven’t been separated from this weekly occurrence (for this long) in over 20 years. I’m wondering what it’ll be like to go back. (The next post -or a short series- will get into that.)
My thoughts are forming like questions:
• Will I sense the roots of others stretching out to meet me?
• Will my absence have been noticed at all? (If a tree falls in a forest…er, um, never mind.)
• Will everything be the same or nothing, or will I be the only one who has changed?
• Will I realize how much I’ve missed it, or be surprised that it hasn’t mattered like I thought it would or should?
• Am I really part of a forest, or am I more like a lone tree on a hill?
Whatever happens, I want to be the tree that stretches out into the stream, into the living water, for nourishment and life.
Jeremiah17:7-8 “Blessed is the [one] who trusts in the LORD And whose trust is the LORD. “For [s]he will be like a tree planted by the water, That extends its roots by a stream And will not fear when the heat comes; But its leaves will be green, And it will not be anxious in a year of drought Nor cease to yield fruit.
![Cultural Grief, Leadership, and Blame [SSL 231] | Micha Boyett and the Slow Way](https://lisadelay.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/MICHA-BOYETT-825x510.png)
Mmm.
