Heather Holleman's Blog, page 207

Finding the Nests

In a week or so, I’ll find all the bird nests of spring in my neighborhood. I love observing the bright blue and speckled eggs and the growth of the chicks, but I also simply love watching the nest construction. The process fascinates me each new spring.

When I find a new nest, I always look to see what unique materials the bird used–like straw or a shoestring or a piece of cloth. What wonderful things to observe in nature. This year, I’m looking for the nest of the hummingbird, morning dove, and sparrow in addition to the regular arrival of the robins and northern cardinals.

What joy!

A Great Principle for Teens to Learn

Before Jesus began to transform my character, I was fickle and untrustworthy. I would make promises and then break them. I would commit to plans and then cancel. I lived an unpredictable, selfish, and indecisive life. As I began to read the Bible and consider the principles that would now shape daily living, I realized that God enables Christians to live with integrity.

They keep their word. They do what they say they are going to do.

I underlined the deeply convicting words in Psalm 15 called, “Guidelines for Living a Blameless Life.” I knew nothing about this kind of living. I began to take notes. I read that godly people speak the truth from their hearts (verse 2); they do not slander or gossip (verse 3). I had heard about this kind of godliness, but then I read this:

“[The godly person] keeps his oath even when it hurts.”

I thought about all the plans I canceled because a better offer came along. I thought of breaking commitments because I was too selfish to follow through.

So when my daughter approaches us with a dilemma that she’s already committed to one group of friends and to a club event while another group of friends offered a much better, much more exciting invitation, I read her Psalm 15. It’s a familiar conversation that we approached in elementary school for similar reasons. But we return to it every year.

But she’ll miss so much! Can’t she just break her prior commitment?

That’s what the old me would do. But there’s a new me that walks with God. And I choose the path of godliness because it’s never worth it to disobey God. I remember. I know what she’s feeling and what it means to grow into the kind of adult that aligns daily life to scripture.

Of course it hurts to do the right thing. If it didn’t, then everyone would do the right thing, right? My husband chimes in that the Bible has already made the decision for her. There’s no dilemma here. We always keep the first commitment.

And even though it hurts, nothing compares to knowing that you’re pleasing God with a hard decision.

 

A Developing Story

In my hotel room in Austin at our Cru National Summit, I pray that God would send me forth as a “royal priest” (1 Peter 2:9) to bless and minister in the name of the Lord wherever I went. I had been teasing people that, although I’m not rich in money to bless others, I’m rich in verbs and Bible verses. I’m rich in faith and hope. I can bless people with verbs, right?

I often tell God that He can use me whenever and however, and I give Him what I have: verbs and faith.

And then strange things happen. You know this if you’ve read this blog for a while.

I travel down to the lobby much earlier than I need to arrive for breakfast, and I sit next to a friend who holds the sign to direct folks to our prayer room. Suddenly, a woman attending a medical conference in a different part of the hotel approaches us. She saw the sign for prayer.

She needs prayer, and the tears fall so fast they drip off her chin.

How can I help? How can I bless and minister? 

She shares how she fears she might fail out of school. She explains that she cannot write well enough. She needs someone to teach her to write at the graduate level. That’s her prayer.

The tears keep falling.

Someone to help with writing? Someone who understands graduate students, who just happens to serve with Cru to help graduate students? That’s me! I’m the one! God made me for this, for you, for now! 

And there we sat in the lobby: she was God’s answer to my prayer; I was God’s answer to hers.

She had asked God to send someone to help her with her writing, and God brought me to Texas from Pennsylvania to answer her prayer.

I sent her my writing book and my list of vivid verbs, and the story that began in Texas continues now through the wonders of FaceTime and email.

God answers prayer. I’ll never forget that sometimes, I’m the answer for someone crying out to God for help. I want to pray and listen so I can step forward every morning as that royal priest.

 

A Theme in the Day: Losing Good Things for Greater Things

I observe the morning breeze stir the cherry blossoms and scatter them to the ground. It’s a beautiful shower of white and pink. I know what it means: the fleeting blooms fall. We’ve lost them, but I note the beauty in even the manner of their falling–like dancers lilting and twirling. Now, the greenery will fill the tree, and robins or sparrows will come nest here. It’s a good thing lost for greater things coming: bright eggs and new life flying.

Then, I package up all the toys of childhood to make room for new designs in a grown-up loft den. I remember the days of Polly Pocket and American Girl, and I tuck them in their places, taped up and boxed away with a sign that says, “Grandma’s Toys” for when and if my daughters bring home children to me. My youngest turns 13, and I think of losing good things of childhood to make way for the greater thing coming.

Finally, my neighbor tells me what God taught her while gardening this morning. While pulling up the hairy vetch, she saw those terrible roots taking over even the good things in her garden. As the roots wrapped around both good and bad, she removed both to make room for new varieties of plants. She said, “Sometimes, in removing the bad things from our lives, some good gets ripped up, too. Sometimes the bad is too wrapped around the good, and both must go. That’s OK.” I remember that to get a great thing, we must often lose a great thing.

The theme of the day: losing good things to make room for greater things. 

Your Work Materials and Your Sword

For the past two days, I find myself fascinated by the account in Nehemiah about those working to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem in the midst of great opposition. God’s people endured ridicule, exhaustion, and the threat of attack while doing the work they knew God had called them do do. The account in chapter 4 (verses 16-18) explains the response of the workers:

From that day on, half of my men did the work, while the other half were equipped with spears, shields, bows and armor. The officers posted themselves behind all the people of Judah who were building the wall. Those who carried materials did their work with one hand and held a weapon in the other, and each of the builders wore his sword at his side as he worked. 

The image of going about our work for the Lord–in all forms across the world–with materials in one hand and weapons in the other reminds me of our daily stance before the enemy of our souls. In one hand, I carry my writing pen; in the other, I carry the sword of the Spirit–God’s word (Ephesians 6), and the wisdom of God that demolishes strongholds (2 Corinthians 10).

We work and we fight at the same time.

When She Arrives

It’s time! You may keep a different time, and so might I, but the Weeping Cherry decides when the party begins.

And it begins.

Offering Yourself

Lately I’ve been thinking more about what it means to offer yourself as a “living sacrifice” from Romans 12 in the context of blessing people. What does it mean to give of yourself to God and to other people–not in terms of acts of service, but in terms of your very self? I’m talking, of course, about sharing vulnerably, of knowing yourself so well that you have an authentic self to give to other people.

How do you give yourself to others? What does it mean to share your life, your heart, and your thoughts with others? I think of the blessing of meeting new friends that begin to offer themselves freely; they don’t hide or pretend to be someone else. They don’t try to please, manipulate, or flatter. They just stand there and offer who they are to you. They live in humility and honesty. They know who they are, and they give themselves freely.

 

 

Sure of the Who

When I travel, I remember A.W. Tozer’s words again:

“We cannot know for certain the what and the whither of our earthly pilgrimage, but we can be sure of the Who. And nothing else really matters.”

Oh, how I love being sure of the Who! I remember–no matter where I am– God’s great care at all times.

Nature Goals (and Beauty Along the Way)

As I watch a hummingbird flit across the patio, I remember that I’ve been searching for at least 8 years for a hummingbird nest. Perhaps this will be my year! I find myself wandering through a hummingbird garden in Austin, TX. While I search for tiny nests, I cannot believe all the other beauty to notice that I almost ignored.

Two different bright lizards scurry by my feet, and I see birds of all kinds flying from limb to limb in the garden. I examine the bright Texas wildflowers.

I remember that living with flair means I keep my eye on new goals in nature while not focusing so much on that aim that I forget the scurrying beauty all around.

When in Austin, Texas

The living with flair moment arrived as soon as I walked through the airport terminal in Austin to see a “taco bar” with brisket, pulled pork and chicken, and a variety of hot sauces. I’m here for the weekend for a Cru National Summit Briefing, and I’m already fully immersed in Austin, Texas.

Years ago, travel caused so much anxiety. I really needed to feel in control all the time, and with travel, that’s never possible. But now–after years of trusting God, walking with God, and knowing that the where doesn’t matter but the Who does–I relax into God’s care.

And it’s fun! It’s fun like going to new cities and eating from a taco bar of the most delicious food.