Heather Holleman's Blog, page 30

Sleep On It

I love this quote from James Clear’s newsletter today: “Your problems adjust to their true level of importance after a hard workout and a good night of sleep.” His words reminded me of the wise advice of a mentor who once told me that, sometimes, the most spiritual thing you can do for yourself is take a nap. We often overwork our minds trying to solve a problem, or we ruminate on things that seem overwhelming. But after we take a walk and enjoy a great night’s sleep, suddenly, life might feel more manageable. That big problem seems less important, and the things that do require your attention might rise in importance when you feel clear-headed from movement and rest.

There’s also wisdom in delay. You don’t need to know the answer right now. You don’t need to act to solve that problem this very minute. What if you slept on it? What if you took a walk? Things might look different in the morning.

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A Verse to Pray at Night

Today I recalled Psalm 139: 23-24:

Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.

What I love about this verse is how God knows our hearts better than we do. He is “greater than our hearts, and He knows everything” (1 John 3:20). He know what’s causing anxiety. He knows what in us needs correction (even when we cannot perceive or name it). And He will lead us forward.

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Try to Revise This Sentence

In one activity in my advanced writing class, we talk about the 5 Main Weaknesses in Academic Writing: weak verbs, delayed verbs, nominalization (making verbs into nouns), incorrect parallel structure, and overuse of nouns in prepositional phrases that should be adjectives (I’ll explain that later).

Here’s an example I give with several nominalized verbs. Could you do the revision?

In this project, we made an examination of burnout in medical school to present a comparison to burnout rates in a hospital setting mid-career. After we completed our analysis, we discovered a high occurrence of burnout in first year medical students. As we came to this realization, we hoped our research would result in an improvement in stress-management young physicians. 

Here, I highlight the nominalized verbs:

In this project, we made an examination of burnout in medical school to present a comparison to burnout rates in a hospital setting mid-career. After we completed our analysis, we discovered a high occurrence of burnout in first year medical students. As we came to this realization, we hoped our research would result in an improvement in stress-management in young physicians. 

Here’s how students might condense this to create all strong verbs and make the nouns after prepositions adjectives (you’ll see what I mean). I underlined the fresh verbs.

We compared medical student burnout to mid-career hospital work burnout and found higher burnout rates in first-year medical students. We hope this research improves how schools help young physicians manage stress. 

When you revise to find strong verbs, you’ll find your sentences increase in both clarity and brevity.

PS: Here’s what I mean by the “adjective nouns” or the overuse of nouns in prepositional phrases that could become describing words for other nouns. Like this:

burnout in medical school = medical school burnout

I love providing little grammar lessons throughout the semester!

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High Maintenance

I learn I need to mist my gardenia (and now also my lemon tree—I didn’t know!) twice a day. Twice! Creating the right, humid environment for such plants requires constant vigilance. In contrast to my orchids which thrive on neglect, my gardenia is high maintenance.

It does remind me of our own need for daily misting, not just one, but twice a day with the Living Water. The thought reminds me of my early blogging at Live with Flair where every little thing I did became a spiritual lesson for me. With the gardenia, I think about my need for “day and night” exposure to God’s word, prayer, and His presence in worship and fellowship. Conditions around us only thwart our growth and safety; it’s a dry land with no nourishment for our souls. We go to God often throughout the day to keep the conditions right for us to live here.

I’m reading Abiding in Christ (another Murray book), and I love how he writes about this daily, high maintenance (but not burdensome) work:

“Every workman sets aside his time for dinner because it is important in his daily routine. In the same way, if we are to live through Jesus, we must feed on Him; we must thoroughly take in and assimilate the heavenly food the Father has given us in His life. Therefore, anyone who wants to learn to abide in Jesus must take time each day, before reading, while reading, and after reading, to put himself into contact with the living Jesus. He must yield himself distinctly and consciously to His blessed influence—giving Him the opportunity to take hold of him so that He may draw him up and keep him safe in His almighty life.”

Andrew Murray, Abiding in Christ

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Try, Try Again

Today while shopping at Trader Joe’s, my daughter and I keep returning to the display of beautiful potted gardenia plants. I absolutely love gardenia. I love the waxy, deep green leaves. I love the bright white blooms that smell indescribably good. The smell of gardenia blooms, I’ve heard, is the hardest to reproduce. My favorite garden smell (other than lilac).

I’ve tried for years to grow gardenia, and each year, I fail. Normally, we aren’t in the correct zone to grow gardenia, but you’ll see them occasionally. One year, after I noticed the Penn State Arboretum’s beautiful potted gardenia, I decided to try to grow one in a pot outside. Fail. Then, I tried to root clippings from the large gardenia plants from North Carolina. Fail.

But I haven’t tried to grow potted gardenia inside. Should we buy the plant? Should we try again? Why would Trader Joe’s sell them here in Central Pennsylvania? Are they a special kind of gardenia that grows well indoors?

We buy the gardenia. We go to the garden store and learn how to properly humidify the indoor gardenia by setting the plant on a tray of rocks and water. We find the perfect dish and the perfect little pond pebbles. We buy a spray bottle for twice-daily misting. We find the perfect spot that’s not in direct sunlight.

We shall see. Here’s hoping for gardenia!

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Reflecting Light

So far, I’ve loved reading more and more about the attributes of God in Grudem’s Systematic Theology. This morning, I considered God’s glory. I love this sentence about how we also, in part, reflect that glory. Grudem writes, “Though we do not now find ourselves surrounded by a visible light, there is a brightness, a splendor, or a beauty in the manner of life of a person who deeply loves God, and it is often evident to those around such a person.”

Have you met someone like this who radiates the beauty and glory of the Lord? It’s a different way of thinking about beauty or how we present ourselves externally. Think about living a life of brilliance, of beauty, and glory of reflecting God’s attributes.

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May It Feed You

After thinking more about Andrew Murray’s analysis of intercession in Luke 11, I pray God gives me spiritual food to nourish others.

Before teaching, before going into a meeting, before interacting with friends or family: anything I’m doing, I’m asking in a shamelessly audacious way. God give us bread to feed others.

I think about that crucial pause to pray before moving onto the next thing. What a wonderful prayer to think about the people you’ll be with and how you might bless them in some way with something only God can give through you.

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For Someone Else

I’m struck by Andrew Murray’s insight into Luke 11 in his book on intercession. He taught me something I had never noticed before. Consider the passage in verses 5-10:

Then Jesus said to them, “Suppose you have a friend, and you go to him at midnight and say, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves of bread; a friend of mine on a journey has come to me, and I have no food to offer him.’ And suppose the one inside answers, ‘Don’t bother me. The door is already locked, and my children and I are in bed. I can’t get up and give you anything.’ I tell you, even though he will not get up and give you the bread because of friendship, yet because of your shameless audacity he will surely get up and give you as much as you need.

“So I say to you: Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.”

Murray discusses this passage in terms of prayer and what it means to ask God for something. We’re the shamelessly audacious believer who begs God for help. God responds. But what I never noticed before is the nature of the request. The person isn’t asking for himself. He’s asking God for nourishment for his travel-weary friend. This story, then, is a picture of intercession: praying for the needs of others. And it seems God cannot resist this kind of prayer. I like the comparison to spiritual bread that we offer others; we don’t have anything to give, but when we ask God to give us spiritual food to nourish others, He responds to make us into the kind of friends who always have something to give others of God.

People around us are weary, hungry, and exhausted. They come to us for help. We have nothing to offer of what they really need–what can only be given from God: spiritual bread. God, give us your food to bless others.

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Stay In / Set Out

In Numbers this morning, I take note of God’s orderly instructions regarding when the Israelites should stay or go. It’s wonderful to think of God’s care for them in Numbers 9:

At the command of the Lord the people of Israel set out, and at the command of the Lord they camped. As long as the cloud rested over the tabernacle, they remained in camp. Even when the cloud continued over the tabernacle many days, the people of Israel kept the charge of the Lord and did not set out. Sometimes the cloud was a few days over the tabernacle, and according to the command of the Lord they remained in camp; then according to the command of the Lord they set out. And sometimes the cloud remained from evening until morning. And when the cloud lifted in the morning, they set out, or if it continued for a day and a night, when the cloud lifted they set out. Whether it was two days, or a month, or a longer time, that the cloud continued over the tabernacle, abiding there, the people of Israel remained in camp and did not set out, but when it lifted they set out. At the command of the Lord they camped, and at the command of the Lord they set out. They kept the charge of the Lord, at the command of the Lord by Moses.

If you notice, sometimes God kept the people in place for a day. Sometimes, He kept them still for more than a month. Sometimes two days. Sometimes many days.

This passage reminds me of God’s timing in our lives as we think about ministry, fruitfulness, or even the basic activities of our days. Sometimes we feel kept in place, hidden away in our tent. Other times, we’ll feel like God uproots us and sends us on an exciting adventure. We’re moving! We’re busy! We’re in full view and ready to make things happen! And then the season of staying still comes, and we wonder what the Lord is doing. Can you imagine what it felt like for the Israelites to have no way of knowing when the cloud would lift to indicate the time for setting out? Their job was to watch that cloud. Their job was to wait. Their job was to be ready for anything, whether hidden or on the move.

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All Day Long

In Psalm 71, you’ll see a certain way of thinking about God. It’s an all-day-long kind of thing. I love how the writer says “I will hope continually” and that he “will talk of [God’s] righteous help all the day long” and “of [God’s] deeds of salvation all day long.”

We tend to think of our time with God as a scheduled thing���like having a quiet time in the morning or a prayer time at night. We think of it as an event with Bible and journal in hand. But here, I love how Psalm 71 invites a continual focus on God and His divine activity. It’s about a constant hope, a constant recognition of God’s help, and a recalling of the joy of salvation all day long. What a great day when we think about God all day long.

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