Michelle DeRusha's Blog, page 22

Weekend One Word: Proclaim

Something a little different this weekend. I usually quote from Scripture for Weekend One Word, but I’ve been reading the daily office from The Divine Hours: Prayers for Springtime most mornings and evenings this Lent, and this prayer from Thursday of this week really resonated with me:

Renew in my heart, O God, the gift of your Holy Spirit,
so that I may love you fully in all that I do and love all others as Christ loves me.
May all that I do proclaim the good news that you are God with us....

The Gift of Quiet and Still {and a giveaway of Roots & Sky}

This morning I sliced three whisper-thin slivers from the frozen ginger root, dropped them into the bottom of my favorite mug and pouredboiling water over them, watching as they bobbed to the surfacelike tinylife preservers. I filled a plastic measuring spoonwith honey and dipped itin and outof the hot water, the thick amber coating thinningtranslucentwith each plunge.I added a splash of lemon juice and then let the mixture steep before finally fishing out the sodden ginger sliverswith a tea...

Talking about Racism Isn’t Enough

Last month I wrote a post hereabout the church’s role in confronting racism. As a member of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), which is 96% white, I was critical of both my own complacency and that of my white Christian brothers and sisters regarding the problem of racism in this country. As I expected, the post generated some heated comments (mostly on Facebook when I shared it there). However one responsein particular caught my attention.

“Complaining about a problem withou...

My Reaction to the Facebook Reactions {or…Use Your Words, People!}

So in caseyou missed it, yesterday Facebook exploded in celebratory glee over the introduction of its new emoticons, otherwise known as “Reactions,” according to Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg. No longer do we need to feel limited by the lowly “Like” button; we now have a heartLove button, a haha Laughterbutton, a yay Happy button {by the way, the Yay button is only available in Spain and Ireland right now…because apparently the Spanish and Irish are a lot Yayier than the rest of us}, a su...

When You Don’t Get the Exact Answer You’re Looking For

I recently made a startling discovery. As I hunched over a stack of crumpled pay stubs, invoices, and receipts and punched calculator buttons until my fingertips were numb in an attempt to prepare my 2015 taxes, I realized that I’ve earned less total income this year than last. This is not good for a person who makes her living as a self-employed writer.

The realization immediately prompted a flurry of questions and panicky prayers. Should I start looking for a traditional job? I asked God....

Weekend One Word: Ask

I tend to beat around the bush a lot with God. I do the “fluff” ask – I pray for amorphous, vague things like “peace,” or “healing” or “comfort.”

Don’t get me wrong, these are all good things to pray for. But sometimes I think Imask myreal desires,myreal needs, with fluff requests.

Yet God says Ask me. Plain and simple: Ask me.

And what he’s really saying, beneath those two small words is: trust me. Have faith in me.

I can’t speak for you, but I suspect I know why I fall back on the fluff as...

When You Need Someone Else’s Eyes to See

A couple of years ago, I found myself smack in the middle of the wilderness. My proposal for a second memoir had been rejected by more than a dozen publishers, and I had no idea which step to take next.

My editor suggested that I write a much different book instead – a biography of Martin and Katharina Luther. The problem was, I felt unqualified. I imagined a professor writing that biography – someone who wore tweed, smoked a pipe and listened to opera on NPR; someone much smarter than me.

I...

Why God Gives Us Boundaries

The backyard of my childhood home bordered an apple orchard and, beyond that, a forest of stately pine trees that swayed and whispered in the wind. My sister and I were allowed to explore to the far edge of the orchard, but my parents deemed the pine forest off-limits.

The fact that the pine forest was forbidden territory just made it all the more enticing. Perched high in one of the tallest trees deep in the middle of the woods was a dilapidated treehouse. Jeanine and I dared each other to...

Weekend One Word: Love

Of course the word is love for this weekend, right? How could it not be? And really, in spite of all the polarization, all the arguments and heated discourse, all the friction we see between human beings online and in real life, it’s pretty simple. Jesus distilled the Ten Commandments into two: Love God, and love your neighbor as yourself. And those two commandments can be distilled into one beautiful, powerful, healing, redemptive, restorative, hope-filled word:

Love.

Love. Love. Love. Love...

When You Have to Do a Hard Thing

I did a hard, brave thing last week. I emailed an acquaintance — a successful, well-respected author whom I’ve never met in person but know casually from online interactions — and I asked if she might be willing to “broker an introduction” between me and another successful, well-known author whom I don’t know at alland who doesn’t know me from Eve.I am hoping (read: beg-praying, wringing hands, Lamazing) that this person mightbe willing to read my Luther and Katharina manuscript, and, if he...