Heather Holleman's Blog, page 178
February 20, 2019
We Tried These Cookies With Low Expectations. They Were Amazing!
I found this cookie recipe that uses dates and ground walnuts as the base. No sugar. No oil. No flour. No eggs. I couldn’t believe it, but since I love the sweetness of medjool dates (and since I have a food processor now), I had to try it!
Enjoy the recipe here, aptly named this:
“The Healthiest Cookies EVER.”
https://detoxinista.com/the-healthies...
February 19, 2019
On Your Knees
This morning I read in Psalm 95:6 these words:
Come let us bow down in worship, let us kneel before the Lord our Maker.
So I kneel. On these old knees, in this little bedroom, from this joyful heat. Something about the physical act of kneeling primes my heart to worship.
The body here reflects the soul’s position: humble, adoring, dependent, and ready.
I kneel.
February 18, 2019
Salting the Path
We awake to a thin layer of ice over every walkway. I join the neighbors in salting the sidewalks and driveways in the freshly lit morning. Soon, the ice turns to slush. We can walk without danger.
When I think about salt–and the biblical metaphor of letting our conversation be seasoned with salt and being the “salt of the earth”– I consider for the first time salt’s role in helping people on the path. When we function as salt, we help others through danger, we navigate, we ease the way. We do what we can to keep them from falling.
The ice nearly stopped us all, but the salt cleared the path.
February 17, 2019
Keep In Step
This morning I thought of the expression “keep in step with the Spirit” from Galatians. When you keep in step, you aren’t far behind and you aren’t far ahead. You’re in step. Your right next to God in the very place you’re supposed to be in the moment. You’re in step.
I remember to keep my mind with Jesus now. Not yesterday and not tomorrow, but now, right now.
February 16, 2019
But Can God Make Me Happy?
I’ve always been told that “God isn’t interested in making me happy; He’s interested in making me holy.” So I built a theology around God as someone sanctifying me towards holiness in a way that wouldn’t encourage or protect happiness. Instead, I would grow into holiness and misery.
Well, I don’t think that’s true. Not at all.
I read this morning this quote that arrives like laughing wind chimes to my soul. Jacques Philippe writes:
Lacking hope, we don’t really believe God can make us happy, and so we construct out happiness out of covetousness and lust. We don’t wait to find the fullness of our existence in God, and so we shape an artificial identity grounded in pride.
That was me! I didn’t really believe God could make me happy. That wasn’t His job. But what if it was? What if Psalm 68:3 became true in my life where we read, “May the righteous be glad and rejoice before God; may they be happy and joyful”?
I’m learning that God creates my desire for happiness to find its fulfillment in knowing Him, so it follows that Christians should be happy people. Why not ask Him to make us happy and to know that He really can?
February 15, 2019
I always love it when I reread Isaiah 30 regarding the pr...
I always love it when I reread Isaiah 30 regarding the promise of God to His people. While I understand these words as a promise to the Israelites, I think it also reflects the character of God and His heart towards all believers. Isaiah writes in Isaiah 30:19-23:
People of Zion, who live in Jerusalem, you will weep no more. How gracious he will be when you cry for help! As soon as he hears, he will answer you. Although the Lord gives you the bread of adversity and the water of affliction, your teachers will be hidden no more; with your own eyes you will see them. Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you, saying, “This is the way; walk in it.” Then you will desecrate your idols overlaid with silver and your images covered with gold; you will throw them away like a menstrual cloth and say to them, “Away with you!” He will also send you rain for the seed you sow in the ground, and the food that comes from the land will be rich and plentiful.
I tend to underline the first promise about God answering as we cry for help and providing clear teachers to us. But this week, I focused on the very last verse:
He will also send you rain for the seed you sow in the ground, and the food that comes from the land will be rich and plentiful.
Broadly applied, I wondered about the New Testament imagery of sowing seed as a metaphor for sowing to please the Spirit and sowing the seeds of the gospel. I thought of all those ways we plant seeds of faith in our lives and how God will send rain to make these seeds grow.
I thought of seeds of books, of speaking about Jesus, about any host of things. I thought of projects started in faith and tiny beginnings that we pray will bear fruit.
And I thanked God for sending rain to now make all these seeds grow and spread.
Amen.
February 14, 2019
A Little 80’s Valentines Nostalgia
This morning, I had frilly little Valentines ready for my teen daughters as they arrived downstairs for breakfast. The gift included essentials of chocolate, a fun pen, a new journal, and something I added that I couldn’t resist: Scratch and Sniff stickers (to adorn the journal pages).
When I found these in Michaels, I experiences nostalgia for my 1985 sticker collection. My favorite pages in my album were the Scratch and Sniff stickers. And now they’re back!
So this morning, I presented Scratch and Sniff stickers for fun. And since it was Valentines, I remember all the old 1980’s Valentines: Garfield, The Care Bears, Gem and the Holograms, The Jetsons, Cabbage Patch Kids. . .
What a time gone by. But this morning, it came back in the form of stickers I once collected.
February 13, 2019
What They Want You To Ask Them About
Today in class, I asked my new favorite Name Game Question: What question do you like people to ask you?
I learn so much. I learn who wants me to ask about what factors make for a good Hip Hop artist, about her fascination with criminals, about his puppy at home, about her love of lyrical dance, about his family, about alternative music, about US history, about being an interfaith person, about her current book obsession, about anything at all because he loves to talk about himself (who doesn’t?), and about website design, about philosophy, and about basketball.
On and on they go. And now I know what to ask when he or she walks in the room.
I tell them to try this question on their first dates, with their roommates, and with their families. There’s something so great about asking this question and moving forward into meaningful, attentive, loving and rewarding conversations.
February 12, 2019
Make It Symbolic. Make It Mean Something.
I’m often motivated to do something I don’t want to do if I can make it meaningful or symbolic. For example, on Tuesdays, I wash the sheets and pillowcases to freshen the beds. It’s tedious to remake these beds.
But what if the act of remaking my daughters’ beds became a meaningful way to pray for a “fresh start” and “remaking” of anything in their lives they want to rebuild or reclaim? What if I prayed as I made the beds that God would refresh their souls that very day?
Suddenly, the chore becomes a symbol. I’m not making a bed; I’m praying for a remade life.
February 11, 2019
Ingredients You’ve Never Tried
I’m attempting a Jackfruit Jambalaya. I love trying new things and experiencing something fresh. I’ve never in my life cooked with either Jackfruit or Creole seasoning, so I’m particularly excited.
When you’re in a rut and want to spice things up (literally), try some new recipe with ingredients you’ve never tried or maybe never even heard of.
Who knows what new delicious thing you’ll discover to enjoy?
