Heart to Heart with Holley

PS - Thankful...

* Update: The comment link works now.

Lord,

Thank you for the women who make a difference in our lives--

mothers, daughters, sisters, friends.

Thank you for the way you've created them...

to care, nurture, connect, bring life.

As Mother's Day gets closer,

we ask you to bless those who bless us.

Add more joy, hope, peace to their lives.

And for every bit of love they give,

bring much more in return.

Amen.

PS - Every Sunday we pray and share.

I'm so thankful for each of you and I thought of you as I wrote the prayer above.

Pray -This week leave a comment about a woman you thank God for in your life. Share - When you leave a comment, you'll enter her to win this God's Heart for You necklace by DaySpring! This is until midnight on Monday only. That way we can ship it for Mother's Day next Sunday!

Would you like to leave your comment or Subscribe by Email?

The Biggest Small We Can Be

I go to a place where trees reach for the sky and writers do too.

We arrive carrying words in our minds, dreams in our hearts, hopes we've whispered silently to the ceiling in the night.

It doesn't matter that I'm on faculty, or have a book published, or anything else.

Here I am a child again asking the playground questions, "Does anyone want me? Do I fit in?"

I look at the trees again and I wonder, "How did they get so tall?"

And I realize...

Not by striving but by being.

Not in a day but through years of growth so small it can't be seen.

We sometimes talk of platforms in this world--building them, being on them, maintaining them. What if we (especially me) were more like the trees?

And the most powerful tree of all formed a cross so that...

But I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to myself. John 12:32

No platforms. Only crosses.

It's an entirely different sort of dreaming.

Another type of trust.

Not of becoming more but less so that we can make much of the One we love.

So here in this place where trees try to reach the sky and writers do too...I choose instead to bow, to kneel at the foot of the cross. To worship rather than work, serve rather then strive.

It's a choice I'll have to make again. Every day. Because my heart is prone to wander, my self-sufficiency quick to grow. But this is the only way.

Not trying to touch the sky but insisting on touching His heart.

I shift my gaze from the trees and look at the path before me.

And I breathe deeply of grace...clear as the mountain air.

Would you like to leave a comment or Subscribe by Email?

A Different Kind of Hope: Giveaway Winners!

Snow and Flower photo by wordcat57 (flickr)

HOPE is a seed God plants in our hearts

to remind us there are better days ahead.

Thanks so much for going through the A Different Kind of Hope series with me!

I decided to give two Hope and Encouragement card packs per post because there were so many comments! I used the random number generator to choose them.

So look for your name below and send me an e-mail (holleyg@dayspring.com) with your address if you won!

You can find the Hope and Encouragement card pack as well as several others on DaySpring.com (psst...they're having a great After Christmas Sale right now—up to 75% off!).

And as a little thanks, you can use my friends and family code (holley20) to get an extra 20% off everything on DaySpring.com.

And now the winners...

PART ONE

Lauri and Shelli

PART TWO

Grace & Peace and Cathleen Johnson

PART THREE

Amber and Cindy Faulkner

PART FOUR

Sarah and Amy V.