Heather Holleman's Blog, page 147

Your Blog in 2020

I love blogging. I love that blogs are searchable and work as a ready archive of your life. For example, in 2010 on this very day, I went sledding even though I was all dressed up for a night out. In 2011? I watched a petal floating down a stream and learned about letting the Living Water guide me past obstacles. In 2012, I learned the beauty of boredom. In 2013, a little bird filled me with awe. 2014 allowed me to consider doing “little things” for the Lord while this day in 2015 showed me why we need mistakes. In 2016, I remembered to trust the One leading me even though I didn’t see the path ahead. In 2017 I thought about the small contribution of fish and bread from that little boy in scripture. Last year on this day, I reflected on my public speaking journey.

What if you started blogging in 2020? You might record small moments of gratitude or joyful discoveries. You might record wisdom gleaned or something you’re wondering about. In a decade, like me, you’ll have a record of growing. You’ll have a record of God’s faithfulness. It’s a wonderful, precious gift.

You can blog just for yourself and your family. You can also blog to allow others to witness and find encouragement from your journey. You can blog as a record for your children and grandchildren. Why not start one?

You Can Be the One

Today I remembered to be the one to gather people. It can be you! You can make the plans, pick a friend up, look up the movie times, make the restaurant reservation, scope out a new hike, or dream up any outing you want.

You might rely on someone else to do these things–and perhaps you stay at home wondering whether someone will invite you out. But you can be the one to invite others out. You can be the one to send the texts and organize a gathering. Let it be you!

Your friends will thank you. They’ll say, “Thank you for gathering us and for making this plan.”

The Viral Moment You’ve Been Waiting For

It finally happened. I went viral.

(Not technically. Viral means something like 5 million views in 5 days. I’m not viral like this. But keep reading. You’re about to witness my most ever liked and retweeted social media post in the history of my social media use.)

More specifically, my cat Louie went–and continues to go–viral.

It started with a cute picture of Louie burrowing into the Christmas wrapping paper on Christmas morning. I posted a picture of Louie with the hashtag #christmascats, and I mentioned the wrapping paper.

Soon, Twitter put the picture in their Twitter Moments feed with the headline, “Nothing can stand in the way of cats playing with wrapping paper.”

And then. . .

My phone continues to explode with notifications. At the time of this writing, Louie has been now seen by 193,338 people with the number rising steadily. 42,206 people have interacted with his picture in some way (retweets, comments, likes). As the number steadily grows, I make jokes with my family about my viral celebrity cat. I joke about Ellen DeGeneres inviting Louie onto the show. I imagine Oprah wanting a moment with this magnificent cat. As I type this, my phone buzzes and buzzes with more and more likes and retweets. For someone who maybe gets 2 likes at the most when I post anything on Twitter, this felt like a true moment. Maybe the only other moment I’ve had on Twitter is a decade ago when I mentioned I was watching American Idol, and Ryan Seacrest responded. That was a moment. But this cat? This cat is something.

Louie Von Whiskers in the Christmas Wrapping Paper

It’s the moment. The moment. The viral moment everyone wishes for.

And you’ll never guess what I’m about to say. It’s not meaningless. It’s not empty. It’s actually fun. And it connected me with many people with comments that went something like, “Me too. Here is my cat doing the same thing. Next try making a bed with a cat.” For the past 24 hours, I’ve laughed with complete strangers about our cats. The authentic connection and togetherness of a mini viral experience made me realize why people long for it. It’s connection. It’s knowing you’re seen and understood. It’s resonance. That’s what these kids are after.

And I’m glad I tasted the fun of it for one day of my life.

Thank you for listening to the story of my celebrity Christmas cat, Louie Von Whiskers.

Merry Christmas!

From my family to yours! Here we are in our Christmas moose pajamas. And here is Louie who absolutely loves Christmas wrapping paper. I pray you have a wonderful Christmas wherever you are!

Blessed Dependence

Merry Christmas Eve! I pray you embrace a life of blessed dependence. Let all the ways you aren’t perfect drive you to the Lord. Around the holidays, I know that so many readers here don’t feel the best. You maybe feel like it hasn’t been your best year, like you’ve made too many mistakes that others see, and that everyone else expected more from you. It’s the classic shame response. Many young people, for example, have to answer questions about why they’re still single, why they aren’t in a better job, or why they haven’t yet done this or that. Maybe you’re reading and you didn’t get into your choice college. Maybe your semester didn’t go so well. So you might interpret every inquiry about your life through the lens of shame. And even if the questions aren’t that explicitly shaming, there’s often always a subtext that we wish you’d be better.

The best remedy—in fact the only remedy–is the freedom you have in the unconditional acceptance, delight, favor, and blessing of Jesus. Imagine Him declaring over you a hearty “Well done!” Imagine Jesus reminding you now that you were never perfect, you won’t ever be perfect, and that your perfection only comes from your union with Him. He will work out in your life “that which is pleasing to him” (Philippians 2:13). He invites you into all of the privileges of being a child of God (Ephesians 1).

When you feel overcome with any negative emotion, remember that this very feeling drives you into blessed dependence upon Jesus. As we celebrate His birth, we especially take note of the humble, degrading circumstances of his arrival and care. He comes right into the shame of it all as a rescuer for you and me.

Finally, as a woman in my mid-forties, I love taking on the role of mentor and someone declaring blessing over others like the royal priest in 1 Peter 2:9. I take seriously the fact that Jesus is conforming you and me to the image of Christ. We therefore move into social settings with the unconditional acceptance, delight, favor, and blessing of Jesus that we reflect to others. Do you know older people who do this? Do you know people who, no matter what you’ve done or how bad it’s been, somehow make you feel so good about yourself when you are with them? That somehow, they believe the best about you? I wish more and more to be the one declaring over others a hearty “Well done!” We spread the love and good cheer of the Savior we know loves us and invites us into that blessed dependence.

A Fun Expression

On the radio today, I hear an advertisement that ends with a word of wisdom: “Remember, if it’s over your head, it’s still under His feet.”

I remember Isaiah 66:1: This is what the Lord says: “Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool.” I love the image of everything being under the Lord’s feet.

Homemade Baby Yoda

My nephew wanted The Child (Baby Yoda) for Christmas, but the toy won’t come out till next year. So my oldest daughter came to the rescue with her crochet skills. How cute!!

Anticipate the Blessings

You know how people can enter a room and live out their rejection-sensitive identities? I’ve written about this before in my Bible study, Included in Christ. Rejection-sensitive people read their experiences through the lens of rejection. They anticipate it. They look for it. They learn to seek evidence for rejection wherever they go.

I believe it’s the same with so many things in life. In the past, I’d wake up and assume it was not going to be a good day. I began to look for evidence of disappointment or struggle. I lived in anticipation of despair and not hope.

But not now. I’ve learned to train my mind in hope. I anticipate the blessings. I assume the blessings are hidden all along the path, sent just for me by a God who delights in my well-being (Psalm 35:27) and longs to be gracious to me (Isaiah 30:18). It’s an entirely different vantage point. It’s an entirely different way to live.

Two quotes I live by now:

The soul that gives thanks can find comfort in everything; the soul that complains can find comfort in nothing. --Hannah Whitall Smith
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I am sure that there can be nothing in our lives which has not in it a cause for thanksgiving and that, no matter who or what may be the channel to convey it, everything contains for us a hidden blessing from God.--Hannah Whitall…
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It’s Not Always Junk

I enjoyed a classic Live with Flair moment yesterday when my oldest daughter decided to check her Spam folder from her gmail account. She found a vital email from a university involving a scholarship application that was due on the very day she happened to check her junk mail. She quickly filled out the application and sent off the email, but we realized a valuable lesson:

Not everything deemed junk or spam actually is. We review the category; we look carefully at things we might have dismissed. Quite possibly, things we quickly count as worthless, an inconvenience, or malicious might, in actuality, serve as a source of blessing and joy.

Living with flair means we keep our hearts and minds open. We review our assumptions and categories. We embrace possibility and give people a chance and even our full attention–especially those others might cast off.

And, in a deeper sense, we think of our own identity as valuable, relevant, worthwhile, important. I know people–especially younger women (and on the other hand, retired men and women)–who’ve designated themselves into a junk category when they need to move themselves to a different folder. They need to star themselves, move their worth from irrelevant to the very top as a child of God and a treasured possession. In gmail, when you finally delete all the spam, you see a little message that says, “Hooray, no spam here!”

No spam here!

Thanks and Yes

This image came across my email today from the Center of Courage and Renewal. I love the intention to embrace all that will be. I love the simplicity of it as a prayer. Thank you, Lord. Yes, Lord!