Heather Holleman's Blog, page 4

Not Always Every Day

Quick update: Due to my traveling, as you know, I’m not always blogging over the weekend. It’s been a big change for all of us not to enjoy daily Live with Flair posts, so I wanted to thank you for your faithful daily readership and engagement since March 2010. I’m also aware that sometimes you’ll receive a big batch of posts instead of day-by-day, so Ashley is working to fix that!

Back to the blog:

I’m loving my 4 Prayers inspired by the book of Job. I pray them in the morning, at the gym, as I’m walking on campus, and before I go to bed. The 4 Prayers center my heart and fill my mind with peace. I am asking them for others as well:

Grant me favorGive me wisdomSend me to help someoneTune my heart to joy

I’m not sure why these 4 Prayers in particular matter so much. I suppose it’s because they cover the entire day: favor in work and relationships, wisdom in every area of living, a purpose and mission to serve, and a mindset of joy.

Enjoy the 4 Prayers today, and see if you experience the same peaceful enjoyment of God.

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Tuned to Joy

This morning, I paused when I read Job 30:31 and how Job describes himself. He writes: My lyre is tuned to mourning, and my pipe to the sound of wailing. I recalled the line from the famous and beloved hymn, “Come Thou Fount” where the writer sings of another kind of tuned instrument. He writes, “Come thou Fount of every blessing / Tune my heart to sing Thy grace.”

I thought all morning of having God “tune my heart” not to mourning and wailing, but to the joy and grace of Jesus. What a beautiful prayer to consider: God, would You tune my heart to see You, to worship You, to experience Your joy?

Tune our hearts to joy.

This adds to my list of powerful January prayers, simple in expression but life-changing in meaning:

Lord, may I find favor.

Lord, may You send me to help others.

Lord, grant me wisdom.

Lord, tune my heart.

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Something to Desire

This morning, I asked God for wisdom. It’s because I felt overwhelmed with the truth found in Job 28 about how priceless wisdom is. What more on earth would you desire? And what if we searched for wisdom as much as we pursue wealth or achievement or pleasurable experiences? I love how Job says this about wisdom:

It cannot be bought with the finest gold,
    nor can its price be weighed out in silver.
It cannot be bought with the gold of Ophir,
    with precious onyx or lapis lazuli.
 Neither gold nor crystal can compare with it,
    nor can it be had for jewels of gold.
Coral and jasper are not worthy of mention;
    the price of wisdom is beyond rubies.
The topaz of Cush cannot compare with it;
    it cannot be bought with pure gold.

Where can you find it? What is the ultimate wisdom of all? Job tells us at the end of the chapter. He says, “The fear of the Lord—that is wisdom, and to shun evil is understanding.”

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No Bad Weather, Just Bad Clothing

I trudged across campus with fleece-lined tights, snow boots, hat, gloves, wool skirt, turtleneck, sweater, umbrella—I felt cozy and protected as blizzard conditions blocked my vision. Nobody understood why Penn State didn’t cancel or delay classes. Nobody knew how we’d all make it to campus and navigate icy sidewalks. But we made it.

I met my classes of new students, and we all piled into warm classrooms as the snow fell in huge, fluffy flakes (the size of hamsters, Ash says). We unwrapped our scarves and unzipped coats. We immediately connected over shared stories of treacherous commutes.

I’m so glad I ventured to campus. I even delighted in having lunch with a dear professor friend. I enjoyed steaming chili from my thermos as I watched the snow fall. I remembered my wise friend’s words: There’s no bad weather, just bad clothing.

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All the Ways to Help

I thought today about God as our “Helper” and how we reflect His character when we see ourselves as “helping” in any situation. I suppose this takes wisdom and inspiration from the Holy Spirit to know what actually helps someone. A great prayer might look like this: Lord, help me become a helper and know how to help the people in my life today. Help me come alongside others to encourage them in ways inspired by you. Restrain me if what I’m doing isn’t actually helping, and prompt me with ideas to help when I don’t know what to do. Help me reflect Your character to others.

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The Wisdom of Job

I’m reading along with the Bible Recap for a chronological Bible reading plan this year, and whenever I get to the book of Job, I normally skim it. I normally think I’m supposed to disregard the foolish advice of Job’s friends, so why bother? But this time, I think carefully about where there’s wisdom in every chapter, especially when Job speaks. What I most notice this morning includes Job’s awareness of God’s power and control over all things. And in the deep despair of Job’s heart, he always shimmers with a bit of hope. Like here in Job 14, he says, “All the days of my hard service I will wait for my renewal to come. You will call and I will answer you.” I just love this idea of [waiting] for my renewal to come. Job knows that God will eventually renew him; he will wait patiently in his suffering. God will eventually call, and Job will answer.

God will call. God will renew.

I also enjoyed a special memory as I read Job today. When I was a little girl, maybe 11 years old, I used to let my Bible fall open anywhere, and I’d see if God had anything to say to me in whatever book happened to be the one open. Normally, the Bible fell open to the middle—so I read a lot of Job and the Psalms! One day, I was particularly sad and discouraged because my church went through a split where the youth group was cut in half (some going to another church, others staying in my church). That day, I read Job 14: 7 and imagined it as a promise for my situation. I even wrote it down in the front of my Bible. Even though, now, I see the right context for this verse (Job is worse off than trees since he find himself without hope), at the time, it spoke to me.

Job says, “For there is hope for a tree, If it is cut down, that it will sprout again, and that its tender shoots will not cease. Though its root may grow old in the earth, and its stump may die in the ground, Yet at the scent of water it will bud and bring forth branches like a plant.” I thought of my situation like a tree that had been cut down (no big youth group), but here, just like a tree, it could grow again. (And rereading today, I thought of growing old and how part of me is beginning to feel like an old stump!)

I also grew to love that expression, “at the scent of water,” as if even the mere scent of water brings life immediately. A mere scent of Jesus, and what’s dead in us begins to spring to life.

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First Big Snow (and a Bald Eagle)

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The Patience of Noah

Peter Spier’s Noah’s Ark stands as one of my favorite books from childhood. I marveled at the illustrations as the flood rose higher and higher. I loved looking at the animals and Noah’s exasperated expression inside of the ark. In my memory, I see Noah sending the dove out, both hands extended. Then, I see the rejoicing figure of Noah as the little dove returns with the freshly plucked olive branch in its beak.

Today, when I read Genesis 8 again, I love the patience of Noah. He first sends the raven out to test the condition of the earth, and the raven just flies back and forth on its own to await dry land. Next, a dove. The dove, of course, finds “no place to set its feet” because the water had not receded. So Noah “brought it back to himself in the ark.” He waits. He waits more. Finally, he sends the dove out again. Then, he sees the olive leaf and knows his time of leaving that ark approaches.

The dove could symbolize many things, but I like thinking of the dove like the Holy Spirit who goes ahead of us to test our places of work or potential ministry fruitfulness. Sometimes, we wait a long time, with no evidence in sight of where we are to land to live and work. We bring our gifts and longings “back to [ourselves]. We wait longer. When it’s finally time, the Holy Spirit shows us some kind of fruitfulness to let us know we might leave our own ark of protection, restraint, and growth until the time is just right.

Then. Then! God declares to Noah to “come out of the ark”—to multiply, to be fruitful, to increase. What patience displayed before this time!

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One Thing Diminished

We walked along Spring Creek just now. The cold winter air feels so nice our our faces. I notice, most of all, the quiet. A big snow storm will come in a few days, and it’s as if all the creatures know; they’ve burrowed away under logs and hide deep in the woods along the creek. We walk in a stillness that then makes the rushing creek so wonderfully loud in the canyon made by a rising cliff to the right and the expanse of forest on the left. The colors blend together in the muted tones of winter; there’s nothing to see but bare branches above and water at our feet. So we walk and listen to the rushing water, to the crunch of old sticks and dried leaves beneath our shoes, and to the softness of our own voices talking about our lives.

Winter diminishes what I see, only to enhance what I hear and feel.

We arrive to our warm car just as the freezing temperature gets to us. The cold darkness arrives, and we crank the heat, play our music, warm our hands. I love what winter forces in me.

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Two Things I’m Thinking About for 2024: Delight and Prosperity

Hello! I’ve returned from my conference, and I’m thrilled to report that I loved speaking for the college students in Indianapolis. What a wonderful time to experience the energy and fun of 1700 people all gathered to learn about Jesus, worship Jesus, and surrender to Jesus.

As I start the new year and a fresh read of the Bible, I think about two things:

The Holy Spirit helps us experience true delight. It seems like savoring is now “trending.” Everyone seems to suddenly talk about how to savor life and truly delight in it. I’m beginning to think I can’t manufacture it or work for it. After all these years of living with flair, I think I’ve been scratching the surface of what a savoring life really means. For example, I noted Tara Leigh Cobble’s words in her Bible Recap podcast on Genesis 1-3 today that the Holy Spirit was present at creation and “giving approval” to everything. I recalled, too, reading about the role of the Holy Spirit to beautify, celebrate, and enable delight. If the Holy Spirit cultivates delight within us, I can rest in His power, not my own mind’s ability to find something good or right. I can pray that God makes the bitter things sweet and shows me the deep delight that only the Holy Spirit can reveal. I can ask where the Holy Spirit is “giving approval” and let my delight rest there.

Secondly, I loved reading the definition of “prosperity” today in my old NIV 1984 study Bible as it explained the themes in Genesis. True prosperity means you are at peace with God, others, and yourself. The person who find this prosperity is far richer than any person who seems to enjoy material blessing.

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