Heather Holleman's Blog, page 84

Roll With It

You know the expression to “just roll with it”? I love the image of being the kind of person who just “rolls” with whatever happens. I picture myself as a cozy ball just rolling down the hill, enjoying the landscape and the breeze. The opposite of rolling feel like braking. You’re stiff and unmoving. You’re unwilling to go with the flow.

The older I grow, the more I’m learning to “Just roll with it.” Plane delays? Roll. Change in plans? Roll. Interruptions? Roll.

Just roll with it.

Something to Remember from the Wizard of Oz

Last night, I popped into a backyard Bible study group in town who will study Included in Christ. As we talked about living in the truth and not letting Satan attack us with lies, we remembered the scene in The Wizard of Oz where Glinda laughs in the face of the Wicked Witch who threatens her. She exclaims, “Rubbish! You have no power here! Be gone!”

I remember that as I stand in my identity in Christ, clothed with His righteousness, I can laugh to the enemy and say, “Be gone! You have no power here!”

 

 

The Shaping. The Lighting.

The creamed spinach was excellent! We gobbled it up! So that recipe makes the recipe binder cut. In other news, I’m glad to report I’ve encouraged my potted plum tree to arrive at the perfect shape. It’s adorable!

Now, I’ll insulate the pot (to protect the roots from too much cold) and let the tree enjoy winter on the porch; it must meet its chilling requirement before blooming next spring. One might think it needs the warmth of an indoor spot, but no. It must chill. I remember we all have our own chilling requirement.  (PS: A fruit tree in Pennsylvania needs approximately 1,000 hours of cold-weather rest before bear

ing fruit. Some of you needed to hear that. Go rest. Go chill. Take 1,000 hours.)

Along with the other two plum trees growing in the backyard, this potted plum will hopefully bear fruit next year. What have I learned? A gardener prunes and cuts to get the right shape. I think about the shape of my own life and how we can thank God for the way we’re growing. We can thank Him for what life looks like. He knows what He’s doing.

Next, I’m amazed at what happened to a drooping indoor plant that kept straining toward a window. It wasn’t thriving. It seemed deflated.

My husband put a full-spectrum plant light over the plant stand (which he made in the woodworking shop!), and within a few hours, the plant reaches joyfully upward. It knows what good light feels like. It know what it needs. I pray we all reach joyfully upward to God’s light today. When we find Jesus, it’s what real light feels like. It’s what we’ve always needed but didn’t know. Reach up! Bask in it. Inflate. Thrive.

The

A Creamed Spinach Recipe I’m Trying

I have so much spinach in my refrigerator. Today I remembered how much my husband loves creamed spinach, so I began searching for a recipe.

I found this version called Heathy Creamed Spinach, and I’m so excited to try it! I love creamy cashew sauces, especially if nutmeg is involved!  https://detoxinista.com/healthy-creamed-spinach/#wprm-recipe-container-26933

I truly enjoy trying new recipes, rating them, and adding them to our family recipe binder. To gain entrance to the recipe binder, we must rate the recipe as “outstanding.” I’ll let you know what we think!

 

You hope you will, and sometimes, you do.

As I’m walking around the beautiful Fox Hill Gardens to find fall mums, I stop by a little pond. I lean down because in my hopes and dreams of childhood, I always searched for frogs who might just sit on lily pads. It’s something from stories and paintings and imagination. It’s something you hope you’ll see but rarely do.

But sometimes, you look into the pond and a frog is sitting on a lily pad.

A Beautiful Day

Besides the enormous hustle and bustle around Penn State due to our White Out game and the presence of College Game Day broadcasting on ESPN from the lawn of Old Main, life feels quiet on my street. I just delivered three ripe garden tomatoes to the neighbors. I took a walk with a friend. I harvested raspberries. I drank coffee and thought about life. I might run another load of laundry.

Of course, alongside this simple day, there’s massive excitement—like a tingle in the air— as we count down to the big game tonight, and even a few streets over, the lines at the grocery store stretch far as people grab their tailgate food of deli sandwiches, wings and lobster rolls, hot pretzels and buffalo chicken dip.

A mile or so down from the grocery store, campus overflows with fans from both Penn State and Auburn. The little country airport hasn’t seen such traffic in years. Every hotel room is packed, and homes in my neighborhood offer beds for out of town guests for a high price.

So it’s a big day! As they say, let’s hope the Lions beat the Tigers tonight! In just a few hours, I’ll hear the fans and the music from the stadium if I stand in my front yard and listen.

When you live in a college town like Penn State, it’s hard not to fall in love with football and tailgating. I join in from afar. I like watching the game from my cozy living room, wrapped in a blanket with a cat curled up on my lap, but we still set up a tailgate area in the kitchen with spinach-artichoke dip, fried chicken, mac-n-cheese, chips, fruit, and desserts. It’s the culture I’ve adopted, right down to my Penn State fan gear.

Simplicity alongside enormity.

We Are!

 

Of Good Courage

I recall the first Bible verse I ever memorized and meditated on as true and entirely applicable to my situation. In Deuteronomy 31:6, Moses encourages Joshua as a new leader who will enter unknown territory.

His words? “Be strong and of good courage, for the Lord your God goes with you.  He will not fail or forsake you.”

Be strong! Be courageous! And why? Because we aren’t alone. God never fails or turns away from us. 

Imagine the places we might go, the people we might engage, and the new things we might try if only we had the strength and courage. Today I remember these words to Joshua, and I press on with courage.

A Little Assessment

Sometimes I challenge my students and the writers I coach to craft a paragraph using all active, vivid verbs and the five punctuation marks that best contribute to a written voice: colons, semicolons, parentheses, dashes, and commas. I also coax writers to vary their sentence length. Try the five-word sentence! Then try the longest sentence you’ve ever written—using dashes and maybe a colon to introduce a list–that will modulate the rhythm of the paragraph. Finally, emphasize a key word with italics. See what happens. Maybe you’ve never tried all this (and maybe you don’t know how). It’s OK. Try. Students like the challenge; they turn in this assessment to showcase a beautiful paragraph, full of voice and style, full of music.

Seeking After You

Sometimes a student will miss a class or two. But if a student misses several classes without contacting me, I go into this investigative mode. I email. I ask other students. I check his or her social media accounts. I contact the advisor. I go where I think they have a part-time job. Where are you? Are you OK? We’ve missed you in class. What is happening? 

Over the years, I’ve discovered students in distress, students with mental health issues, or students who fall through the cracks for whatever reason. It’s important to find missing students. It’s vital to check up on them. You just never know when you might save a life.

It reminds me of the lengths God will go to seek and save us. He goes after us when we go missing. He’ll do whatever it takes to bring us back.

Keep Learning.

Today I joined a group for new professors at Penn State who talk about teaching. I first thought I didn’t need a group like this. Did I even want a group like this? I’ve been teaching for 25 years! What else could I learn?

Oh my! I learned so much in the first five minutes of the zoom call. The host used new technology to ask us how we felt about our teaching. We immediately learned three new programs to gather feedback in a classroom–whether apps on their phone, word clouds, or google forms.

I also appreciated how the host built community based on things we might know about–like grocery shopping. The lead question involved introducing ourselves and sharing our favorite item to buy at Trader Joes. Ha! Apparently, people love the Cold Brew Ice Cream and the Almond Bread (two things I have not tried).

I remember living with flair means to keep learning.