Heather Holleman's Blog, page 74

Put Joy In My Heart

This morning, I read Psalm 4 and find the hope of the new year: David recounts a question that “many are asking.”

The question? Who can show us any good? Or, in another translation, Who can bring us prosperity? I think of those who live in dire situations all over the world and those of us in comfortable homes who still feel hopeless or scared about this new year. David provides the answer that suffering Christians have learned throughout the centuries (and especially those enduring persecution at this very minute)–that God can put more joy into the human heart than any external experience could provide.

Lift up the light of Your face upon us, Lord!
You have put joy in my heart,
More than when their grain and new wine are abundant (Psalm 4:6-7).

Psalm 4 explains the joy of the suffering Christian and the hope of the discouraged heart. We can ask God to “put joy” into our hearts today. This won’t make any sense, and it seems impossible, but it is the ordinary experience of Christians to know the “inexpressible joy” (1 Peter 1:8) of a heart who loves God.

A New Year Blessing

May the Lord grant you a new friend who makes you laugh so hard you cry. May the Lord give you deep, refreshing sleep. May this be the year something broken becomes mended, something sick becomes healed, and something lost becomes found. May you see marvelous things in God’s creation this year; you live in a world of owls and shooting stars, sea urchins, box turtles, and rare wildflowers. You live in a world of hopping rabbits, bounding deer, and stalking cats. May you see something in nature that fills you up with awe and sends you marveling for the whole week or maybe your whole life. May you hear beautiful music, birdsong, and children playing. May you see kindness and love and humility and remember the goodness of God through people around you. May you hold the hand of someone very young and very old. May this be the year you fall in love again or for the first time. May you let yourself love a pet and wonder why you waited so long for it. May God grant you a curious mind and give you a question to answer and a problem to solve. May you see the uniqueness of how you’re made and how you fit here. May you feel true belonging in someone’s loving embrace. This year, may you forgive, especially yourself. May you listen more. May you give generous gifts and remember the gift of your full attention and full presence. May you read the Bible and experience the gentle voice of the Holy Spirit pushing you towards paths of peace and joy. May you ask, seek, and knock boldly. Let this be the year of courage and faith. Let this be the year of movement–of your body, of your dreams, of your talents growing and blessing the world. May every moment sparkle with divinity. May every moment clothe you in love and the mysterious gift of joy. May this year be new in hope and surrender. You are held in God’s arms and never alone. 

Ready for a Fresh, New Year

I love the hope of New Year’s Eve and the joy of anticipating a fresh start.

New wine. New wineskins.

I’m eager to grow in my faith and step into situations that require faith. I’m eager to think about how to bless others around me and live a Philippians 2 life that takes on the “nature of a servant.” I’m eager to grow in intercession as I pray for my family and friends and, more recently, the persecuted church.

And I have a small resolution: to drink more water.

Some Speaking Photos

These past few days, I’ve been in Minneapolis to speak at Cru’s Winter Conference on Seated and Sent. I met so many vibrant, hopeful Christians and heard the most beautiful worship music from the college student worship team. What wonderful people! What a powerful event!

New Wineskins

I recently began to study a curious passage in Matthew 9: Jesus tells his disciples that His teaching and His new way of being are radically different from the old ways of living to try to earn God’s favor through obedience. But Jesus says it like this: “No one sews a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment, for the patch will pull away from the garment, making the tear worse. Neither do people pour new wine into old wineskins. If they do, the skins will burst; the wine will run out and the wineskins will be ruined. No, they pour new wine into new wineskins, and both are preserved.”

The old clothes and old wineskins represent the old way of thinking and living apart from Christ. We need a whole new way of thinking and living. We can’t just stuff Jesus into our regular old patterns of living or working. We need an entire makeover. We need a life of new wineskins.

I think about any way I’m living or working that places me back into the old me that’s not the Holy Spirit’s new wineskins.

A Needed Comparison

Sometimes we need a little comparison to refine our poor attitude. For example, I recently find myself wishing I didn’t have a boring two hour flight. It’s too long. What will I do for two hours?

The kind woman beside me begins to tell me about her travel plans for the day. After this two hour flight, she’ll enjoy 14 more hours of plane rides on her way to Kenya. Then she’ll journey another 4 hours to her town. Her eyes sparkle with the joy of seeing family again. She’s thankful for modern travel possibilities. Nothing seems to discourage her or bore her about her travel day that will extend well into the night and till the morning. She’s on a grand adventure as she tells me what’s next on her flight on Ethiopian Airlines.

And my day felt profoundly easy.

A Little Snow for You

They Come Here

I love birds in winter. In Pennsylvania, certain birds migrate here just for the winter. Here? To our little Pennsylvania town? What’s there to see here? Well apparently, certain birds come here in winter, including the snowy owl!

Our local newspaper reported today how “the dark-eyed junco . . . fly here from Canada each fall by the millions — and that number is no exaggeration.”

Dark-Eyed Junco / Photo by Ken Thomas

Millions? That’s right–millions of dark-eyed junco fly in to see us for the fall and winter. They stay here till April. Just when I thought winter wouldn’t bring anything special in our neighborhood, nature delivers the biggest crowd. These “snowbirds” bring a sweet song and playful movement in our trees and around the feeder. They dance on the ground to stir up dirt and seeds.

The dark-eyed junco comes with an expression from birders to remind you of their arrival time: gray skies on top, white snow on bottom. That’s what they look like with their gray top feather and white underside. So when the sky is gray and the snow begins to fall, I know I’ll see the junco soon.

And guess where they’ve been? Not just Canada; some fly in from Alaska and even the Arctic Circle. These dark-eyed junco might just have spent their summer with the polar bears, arctic fox, caribou, and reindeer.

When I look at the dark-eyed junco, I’ll remember the vastness of our planet and far away places. I’ll remember how every season delivers unique gifts. Tomorrow morning, I’ll listen for the song of the dark-eyed junco which you can enjoy on this video:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vlJUsAl4YCA

 

Always Christmas

I remember C.S. Lewis’ line about how in Narnia, it’s always winter but never Christmas. Now, with Jesus, it’s always Christmas and never winter. We no longer endure a winter of the heart that’s devoid of fruitfulness and joy, that fears death, or sees no hope. It’s always Christmas now.

Follow the Star

In the book of Matthew, we read how the wisemen followed the star to know when and where Jesus had arrived. They understood the sign. The followed that light God gave. They looked upward. They let the light lead them.

The followed the star.

As we search for meaning and truth in our own live, we know that Jesus becomes the bright Morning Star (Revelation 22:16). He’s the Star we follow now; He is the light that keeps our path true. We look upward. We let Jesus lead.