One Little Line
Do you remember the friend who came to my aid when I was stranded at the Charlotte airport? Well, she talked to me about this “One Line a Day: A Five Year Memory Book” journal and how much she loved it. She’s been filling out these one line a day journals for years and years. […]
A Moment I’ll Always Remember
It’s such a delight to see this excerpt of This Seat’s Saved on Ann Voskamp’s lovely blog today. The first young reader who finished the book lives in my neighborhood. This past week, she ran up to me when I walked by her house and said, “Mrs. Holleman! I loved your book! I finished it […]
Your Morning With Friends
Lately, I’ve come to see my morning quiet time in my mustard recliner as a morning coffee with dear friends. Piled around me, all in rich conversation, I sit with King David, the prophet Isaiah, the disciple Matthew, Andrew Murray, Hannah Whitall Smith, prayer theologian Wesley Duewel, and Michael Reeves. Sometimes, I invite Spurgeon or […]
May You Be a Blessing
This morning, I reflected on a paragraph in Andrew Murray’s book The Ministry of Intercession. He writes this: “In [intercessory prayer] we too are called to receive in ourselves the fullness of God’s Spirit, with the power to impart spiritual blessing to others. The power of the Church truly to bless rests on intercession—asking and […]
Simple Garden Plan
At the last minute today—right as we chose our golden marigolds for our front bed by the ginkgo tree—we decided we do, after all, want a vegetable garden. I had wanted only a miniature pumpkin patch, but I knew I could spit our little plot in half and plant a row of vegetables. We chose […]
Just Because You Can
I often read posts about how great new technologies are and how they’ll maximize our productivity and allow us to do more and more and more. When I think about ChatGPT or whatever it is I’m hearing about, I hear that whisper of wisdom: Just because you can, doesn’t mean you should. Faster and bigger […]
Things I’m Learning About Trauma
This summer—for the next 6 weeks—I’m earning a certification in Trauma-Informed Pedagogy for Higher Education. Technically, the title is this: Certificate in Building Resilience through Trauma-Informed Practices for Higher Education. It’s a lot of work! I have quizzes and essays and so much reading. I’m glad I know what my students feel like now. At […]
Against All Hope
I’m standing there, pruning my plumcot tree, and behold! I see an actual baby plumcot! It’s the size of a large, green olive. I cannot believe it. My tree is not supposed to fruit until I’ve raised another plumcot tree for cross-pollination. It’s not supposed to bear fruit for maybe two more years. I think […]
Take Away Half
My pruning knowledge continues to increase. Now that I have two plums and a new peach tree, I need to learn expert pruning techniques. I love reading about the art of pruning because it reminds me so much of John 15:1-8. If you haven’t read this passage in a while, it goes like this: I […]
Perfect Little Lilac
Every day, find something lovely to observe. It’s so good for you to do this. My lovely thing? This perfect little lilac. It’s over 20 years old. Last year, Ash pruned it perfectly, and it responded with this display below. Lilac smells marvelous. Even a few sprigs brought into the home fragrance the whole room. […]