Michelle DeRusha's Blog, page 11

Practicing the Ministry of Presence

Hi friends – I’m still on a blogging break, but I wanted to share my monthly column I wrote for the Journal Star with you. Thanks for your patience and grace as I take a little breather from (most of) my writing.

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Three weeks ago, the 33-year-old son of one of my father’s closest friends drowned while swimming in a small Massachusetts lake. According to reports, he jumped from a boat into the water and never resurfaced.

My parents were sleeping when the phone rang. At that point the body h...

When You Are Called to No Words

I’ve been thinking about words lately, mostly because it seems I have fewer these days. Back when I first began blogging eight years ago, I posted every day, seven days a week. Over time that frequency diminished to five days a week, then three days, until, most recently, I settled on once a week. Some weeks, even one post feels like a stretch.

I’m not sure why I seem to have less and less to say. Maybe after eight years of blogging, 1,547 posts, 86 columns for the Journal Star, three books,...

How to Chase a Different Kind of Great

“Everyone is chasing status, but serving the vulnerable is wide open in every field.” — Andy Crouch

I’m intimately familiar with chasing status. As an author, I’ve spent countless hours strategizing how to sell more books, attract more readers, build my platform, gain more social media shares, and rub shoulders with influential people.

I could tell you that this emphasis on networking and platform is an integral part of my job as a writer, and that would be partially true. But that’s not the...

Stopping to Build an Altar

The boys and I took Josie for a walk at the park on Sunday night. The grass swished around our shins as we ambled toward the pond, the sun golden, the shadows long, the air completely still.

We paused to watch a graduate posing for pictures, her robe a waterfall of scarlet, mortar board bobby-pinned to her shining hair, high heels sinking into the soft earth. Nearby a couple walked slowly toward the water, his hand on her rounded belly.

Noah bent low, aiming his camera to capture a bumblebee...

First Notice, Then Choose {thoughts on putting down the phone to be present}

Last Saturday my family spent the evening with some good friends.

The kind of friends where it’s perfectly acceptable to sit on the floor so you can be as close to the appetizer platter as possible, instead of on the sofa with your legs crossed and a napkin on your lap.

The kind of friends where you know that the container on the right side of the fridge is where the dog food is kept and the container on the left side of the fridge is the actual trash can.

The kind of friends who invite your...

The Finish Line Isn’t Always the Most Important Part of the Race

Last week I had to cut short an interview I was doing for my new job when I realized I was going to be late to pick up my kids from school. The man I was interviewing on the phone was kind and gracious, but still, it was an awkward moment, and I felt like an unprofessional amateur.

As I sped down South Street toward the middle school, my cell phone rang, and I knew from the ring tone it was Rowan calling from the sidewalk outside his school, wondering where I was as he watched all the cars p...

5 Things I Learned from My Six-Week Social Media Fast

I hadn’t “given up” anything for Lent in years, but when my pastor asked on Ash Wednesday, “What’s keeping you from growing in your relationship with God?” I knew social media was my answer.

Now that Lent is over and Easter has come and gone, I’m back on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, this time, I hope, a wiser, more discerning user. I can tell you straight up: the fast made a difference. I spend a lot less time on social media than I used to, and I’m much less inclined to pick up my phon...

Why I Said Yes to a Part-Time Job {or, Let’s Talk Real about the Creative Life}

When I left the traditional workplace five years ago, after ten years working part-time as a fundraising writer for Nebraska public television and radio, I never expected I would want to return to a “regular job.” But here’s something I’ve learned in five years of full-time writing: flexibility and an open mind are key to having a fulfilling, productive, sustainable creative life. If something’s not working, you have to be willing to admit it’s not working and have the courage to try somethi...

How to Choose Humility over Humiliation

A few weeks ago I prayed quietly to myself  just minutes before stepping up to the altar to speak. This is not unusual. I always pray before I speak. Typically I pray that the Holy Spirit will speak through me and that God will use my words to minister to his people in exactly the way he desires. I also pray that I won’t make a big, fat fool of myself.

This time, though, I unexpectedly prayed a different prayer. Before I even knew what I was saying, I prayed this:

“God, please humble me.”

Wh...

Rain on Good Friday

It’s raining today,
gently at first,
a fine mist beading.
Then harder,
knocking on the skylight,
drenching screens and sills,
puddling on the wood floor.
Outside, branches and buds hang low,
faces toward the ground,
petals clenched tight like pink fists.

 

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