Heather Holleman's Blog, page 36

Sunday Declutter — 10 Things

I love decluttering. You can declutter spaces, and you can declutter your mind. Try this:

In any space, challenge yourself to get rid of 10 things you don’t need or haven’t worn or used in a year. You can donate these items, sell them, or recycle them (or send them to the trash). I tried this in various spaces today including my closet, my jewelry box, and my bookshelves. I find myself feeling fresher and lighter in my bedroom. I light a vanilla candle and enjoy a more simple room.

In the space of my mind, I like to declutter by listing out everything I’m thinking about, worried about, praying about, confused about, wondering about—every thought passing through up there in my brain I dump out onto the page. It’s a great exercise to leave your troubled thoughts on a page instead of spinning around in your mind. This is why I have shelf after shelf of journals. This is why I keep two journals ready at all times so when the first one is filled, the next one is there. For a mind decluttering, you can use the principle of getting rid of 10 things. Get rid of 10 burdens, 10 worries, 10 stressors (whatever you name them), and let Jesus bear them for you. Light a candle. Sit back and enjoy a clear mind in perfect peace because you’re trusting God for those things.

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Sunday Declutter ��� 10 Things

I love decluttering. You can declutter spaces, and you can declutter your mind. Try this:

In any space, challenge yourself to get rid of 10 things you don’t need or haven’t worn or used in a year. You can donate these items, sell them, or recycle them (or send them to the trash). I tried this in various spaces today including my closet, my jewelry box, and my bookshelves. I find myself feeling fresher and lighter in my bedroom. I light a vanilla candle and enjoy a more simple room.

In the space of my mind, I like to declutter by listing out everything I’m thinking about, worried about, praying about, confused about, wondering about���every thought passing through up there in my brain I dump out onto the page. It’s a great exercise to leave your troubled thoughts on a page instead of spinning around in your mind. This is why I have shelf after shelf of journals. This is why I keep two journals ready at all times so when the first one is filled, the next one is there. For a mind decluttering, you can use the principle of getting rid of 10 things. Get rid of 10 burdens, 10 worries, 10 stressors (whatever you name them), and let Jesus bear them for you. Light a candle. Sit back and enjoy a clear mind in perfect peace because you’re trusting God for those things.

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Catch Them

I love the image in scripture from Ezekiel 34: 25-27 of the “showers of blessing.” The Lord promises this:

 I will make with them a covenant of peace and banish wild beasts from the land, so that they may dwell securely in the wilderness and sleep in the woods. And I will make them and the places all around my hill a blessing, and I will send down the showers in their season; they shall be showers of blessing. And the trees of the field shall yield their fruit, and the earth shall yield its increase, and they shall be secure in their land.

I love thinking of God sending showers of blessing that help us feel secure. It reminds me of God’s good gifts coming down to us like it says in James 1:17: Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights.

As I picture God’s showers of blessings, I always think of me standing there with gold confetti dropping from the sky all around. What occurred to me today, however, is how those blessings drop untouched to the ground unless I catch them. How many blessings are God pouring down on us this very minute that we ignore or close our hands to because we don’t recognize them as good gifts? As I’m thinking this, five blue jays land in the bush beside me. They bring a confetti of color against a grey, snowy sky. I stood there, marveling at them. Showers of blessing.

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Talking to Others About Their Prayer Life

I love learning about prayer from others. How do they pray? Where do they pray? When do they pray? What do they most talk to God about? How do they experience God in prayer? What is it like?

I’m fascinated by the prayer lives of others and what we can all learn from one another. This morning, I learned from a wonderful friend about making prayer a significant part of her work day. It’s part of the schedule since she knows the disasters coming in a life without prayer. I listen to how she talks about praising God and acknowledging all His attributes, about thanksgiving, and about intercession. She inspired me as I heard her joy in talking to God.

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More Organized

For years, I’ve resisted using the calendar on my phone and all the organizational tools available to me. I wanted to live as tech-free as possible. But the time came; I’m now fully on my phone with my calendar, to-do-lists, and anything else I need to stay organized.

I resisted, but now I wish I hadn’t. Sometimes, technology is your friend.

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A Great Prayer from Psalm 90

I love Psalm 90:14-17. It reads like this::

Satisfy us in the morning with your steadfast love, that we may rejoice and be glad all our days. Make us glad for as many days as you have afflicted us, and for as many years as we have seen evil. Let y our work be shown to your servants, and your glorious power to their children. Let the favor of the Lord our God be upon us, and establish the work of our hands upon us; yes, establish the work of our hands!

What a wonderful prayer that God would satisfy us, gladden us, and display His power in our lives today! What a perfect prayer for God’s favor and blessing on our work! I pray this for us all this morning.

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Symbolic Transitions to New Spaces

Do you remember how Mr. Rogers always did the same thing when he arrived back home on the show Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood? He opens the door, waves to us, sings a song, takes off his sports coat, hangs it up, put on his sweater jacket, zips it up, sits down, takes off his dress shoes, puts on his sneakers, and then begins a conversation with us. I’ve always loved the routine of it and how it signaled a transition from work to home, from one task to another, from one realm to another.

Today I thought about the little things I like to do to show a transition from one way of being to another. I do the same routine when I enter a classroom as a teacher, but I do other things when I enter my office (like hang up my coat and hat, adjust the lighting, pull out my lunch, start my computer). When I return home, I like to mark the event as well with regular actions that signal I’m now home. I change clothes like Mr. Rogers. I put away my dress shoes and put on my slippers. When I don’t do these things, everything tends to feel rushed and jumbled. I haven’t ended one thing to start another.

I’d like to take the time to mark the transition from place to place, whether physically or mentally. When I’m finished grading and on to my own creative writing, I love to pour a nice beverage, light a candle, and put on cozy clothes. When I do this, things always seem more orderly and peaceful.

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On Pilgrimage

I always pause when I read the word “pilgrimage” in the Psalms. Most notably, I love Psalm 84:5: Blessed are those whose strength is in you, whose hearts are set on��pilgrimage. I always remember that we’re all just passing through; this isn’t our real home. Our hearts are set on a journey to a different Kingdom.

I just love thinking about pilgrimage.

I spend some time this morning reading how others view this concept of Christian pilgrimage. It’s so beautiful to see our lives as a journey of various steps: breaking away from the old and setting out on a new adventure, establishing our destination, overcoming hardship, experiencing blessing, and teaching others as we near maturity. Our hearts are set on Jesus, on pilgrimage to eternity.

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Take the Wheel

I’m driving in a confusing rental car up Seven Mountains to get home to State College. Because of my bad knee, I can rarely drive more than 20 minutes without immense pain. So when traveling to speaking events, Cruise Control becomes my best friend so I can rest and stretch my knee. Yesterday, after speaking all weekend on God’s goodness and care for us, I found myself in that rental car, ready to engage Cruise Control so I wouldn’t have to ever press the gas pedal.

I press the button. Nothing. It won’t engage!

For an hour, I keep trying. Soon, I’ll have to pull over to rest my knee. As I approach the treacherous stretch of road over Seven Mountains, I cry out in exasperation all about how God is supposed to love me and care for me. And He’s supposed to answer prayer, and I asked specifically to fix the Cruise Control. Nothing. Where are you God? Help me!

Desperate, I start pressing every strange button on this fancy rental car. Suddenly, the dashboard lights up bright green, and everything changes. It’s like other hands have taken over the wheel. It’s like another foot is pressing the gap pedal. Even on the most winding roads, the car is miraculously driving itself.

I had found the “Self-Driving” feature. The car was indeed driving itself. This was far better that the half-control of Cruise Control. This was a full takeover.

Had God answered my prayer for Cruise Control, I would have never experienced the far better feature. A better blessing awaited. I also reflected later how so much of the Christian life settles for a type of Cruise Control living where we want God to empower our lives, but we still control the steering. Instead, God wants a full takeover. He want to empower and drive our whole lives.

I crested the mountain with Jesus. I wasn’t driving. I sat back, resting and marveling at the beauty all around me. He took me all the way home safely.

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In a Glorious Way

I just returned from a wonderful women’s retreat in Lancaster. For the theme of “Belonging,” I spoke on Seated, Surrendered, and Sent, and I enjoyed true fellowship with so many great women. Something particularly special involved a moment when the leadership team passed around piles of beautiful bookmarks all with different colored tassels. Each bookmark contained a different scripture reference. The leaders said that they prayed that God would help each woman see how her unique bookmark’s verse applied to her life.

I chose a blue tasseled bookmark. When I turned it over, my special verse was Philippians 4:19. Each woman had to look up her Bible verse and perhaps view it in several different translations. All the ladies around me were so happy to reveal their Bible verse and consider how the Lord might speak to them. I loved how the whole room erupted in voices wanting to talk about various Bible passages.

When I looked up my passage in different translations, I found one I absolutely loved. It read like this: My God will richly fill your every need in a glorious way through Christ Jesus. (from GOD’S WORD translation). I focused on the phrase “in a glorious way” as I thought about a theme in my life of looking for���and finding���unexpected joys. The verse made me think how God won’t simply meet our needs; He’ll richly and gloriously do so.

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