Michelle DeRusha's Blog, page 24

Listening to the Woods on a Snowy Afternoon

“I’m not much good at it, but I love it anyway,” she said to me, as we rested on either side of the trail. Her skis were side-by-sidein a set of parallel tracks; mine were lined up the same way, but pointing in the opposite direction. We had both stopped to peel off outer layers and lean heavily on our ski poles, our breath billowinginto the coldair.

She was an older woman. Her jacketwasn’t the latest fashion; her gear wasn’t high-tech. She wore rented skis and boots like me. But it was writ...

Top 5 Favorite Fiction Books of All Time

Around this time of year it’s trendy out here in the blogosphere to post about your favorite books of the past year or your reading goals for the coming year. But I’ve got a bit of a twist on that today.

A fewweeks before Christmas my friend Bonnie messaged me, asking about my top five favorite fiction books of all time — “books that have prompted a big ‘ah-ha!’ moment or helped me to live my life better.”

I know! What a question, right? I told Bonnie I’d think about it, and then I pondered...

From Our House to Yours

Brightest Christmas wishes to you, friends!

May your holiday be filled with joy, light, love and peace, and may you feel the presence of Immanuel, God with us, as you celebrate and contemplate this weekand all year long.

“She will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel, which means, ‘God with us.'” (Matthew 1:23)

With joy and gratitude, from ourhouse to yours… {well, this isn’t exactly ourhouse…but you know what I mean!}…

You just finished reading From Our House to Yours! Consi...

Weekend One Word: Stay

If you’ve been reading this blog for longer than thirty-five seconds, you know Ihavea restless spirit. You know I wrestle with discontent, with the desire to do more and be more. I tend to look elsewhere, to stand on my tiptoes and poke my nose over the fence and think, Hey, the grass looks a whole lot greener over there.

I tend to want what’s over there,because over there looks more fruitful or more successful or just plain better than what’sover here.

I think this is what Isaac might have...

Defeating Sin with Snowball Fights

I’m delighted to welcome Monica Sharman to the blog today. Monica is the author of Behold the Beauty: An Invitation to Bible Reading , which I will tell you straight up has helped this lax Bible reader return to daily Scripture reading with a fresh heart {thank you, Monica!}. If you know anyone who has fallen away from daily Scripture reading, or perhaps has never cracked open a Bible to begin with, Behold the Beauty is a gracious, gentle invitation that will appeal to faithful readers and beg...

When It’s Time to Walk the Talk

I spoke this past weekend at a women’s event in Iowa. It was a big deal for me because the event was my largest speaking event yet. When I pulled into the church parking lot at 7:30 Saturday morning, I texted Brad before I even turned the engine off. “This church is humongous,” I typedwith shaky hands and a pounding heart. Turns out, the church wasn’t just humongous, it’s actually the largest Lutheran church in all of North America and South America, a fact I learned from the pastor’s wife d...

When You Miss What’s in Plain Sight

I’m still sitting five minutes a day. Well, not quite every day; I’ve missed a few sits here and there. But most afternoons, sometime between four and five,I sit for five minuteson the park bench alongside the walking path. It still feels a bit awkward. Josie looks over her shoulder at me from time to time, as if to inquire, “Remind me again why we are just sitting here?” But ever so slowly I am settling into this practice.

Even though my general surroundings don’t vary much from day to day...

How to Cultivate a Continuous Spirit of Gratitude {hint: take a cue from Mary}

Back in 1983, when I was thirteen years old, the one thing I wanted for Christmas more than anything else in the world was a Cabbage Patch Kid. In particular, I wanted a Cabbage Patch Baby, a girl with a smooth bald head and a round, dimpled face.

Cabbage Patch Kids were all the rage that year, even among thirteen-year-olds. By the end of 1983, more than 3 million had been sold (the correct terminology at the time was “adopted”). I remember the lines snaking outside the doors of Toys R Us, t...

Advent: A Time for Listening

A few weeks ago I sat on a folding chair among a circle of women. When I read the first question from the sheet I held in my hands, a petite, middle-aged woman on my left, her thin hair pulled back into a sparse ponytail, hands clutched tightly together in her lap, launched into a long litany of complaints and lament — a story of illness, suffering, depression, and anxiety that burst from her in a breathless torrent.

The other women in the circle nodded sympathetically. I nodded, too, and tr...

Advent Light and #HolidayHaiku

Today I’m joining Wendy Speake and a team of writers for #HolidayHaiku – a month ofslowing down and celebrating Advent in the quietest and simplest of ways. As Wendy writes, “Advent isn’t another noun to consume this holiday. I want plenty of time and space these cold December days toadvent.”

Although we typically use the word advent as a noun, itactually originates from the Latin in a verb form — advenire– meaning to come.Over the next four weeks, Wendy invites us toadvent together as we an...