Michelle DeRusha's Blog, page 56
January 29, 2014
A Divided Loyalty and the Stinging Truth
Two weeks ago I watched as the endorsements deadline for my first book came and went. I watched the deadline pass, knowing seven authors hadn’t responded.
Endorsements are the pithy accolades that appear in the opening pages and on the front and back covers of a book. Two months ago I learned from my publisher that it’s the author’s responsibility to ask other writers if they might be willing to take a look at the book and write an endorsement. The emails I dutifully typed to more than a dozen...
January 27, 2014
Hear It on Sunday, Use It on Monday: Born Again to See
One of the very first things I noticed about Nebraska when I moved here twelve years ago – in addition to the oppressive sky and the militant grasshoppers – was the pervasive wind. On our second day in Lincoln, I remember stepping onto the driveway and being smacked head-on by a gale-force wind that nearly knocked me off my feet.
I’ve never liked wind. All the blustering and blowing and out-of-control feel of it makes me uncomfortable, even a little queasy at times. The wild, unpredictable nat...
January 26, 2014
January 24, 2014
From the Point of View of Eternity
We must always look at things from the point of view of eternity,
the college theologians used to insist,
from which, I imagine, we would all appear to have speed lines trailing behind us
as we rush along the road of the world,
as we rush down the long tunnel of time–
– Billy Collins, “Velocity”
The light streams through the dirty panes, golden squares onto the wall, mercury glass flashing like a Fresnel lens. I lie on the couch, shoes on, as the last rays sink behind the skeletal trees. The beams...
January 22, 2014
Lost and Found: The Ring
So it seems I have a whole lot of trouble writing a book proposal and a blog at the same time. Thank you for bearing with me as I put my nose to the grindstone this week – I am reposting this one from 2012, one of my favorite stories of all time!
I drop a full can of Folger’s onto the kitchen floor, and the kids giggle as I sweep brown granules into the dingy dustpan, muttering on my knees about parquet floors and cracks and coffee.
That’s when I first notice it’s gone.
My wedding ring. The one...
January 20, 2014
Hear It on Sunday, Use It on Monday: When You Think a Bible Verse Doesn’t Apply to You…Think Again
I have a bad habit of assuming certain Bible verses don’t apply to me.
Take the story we read this week, for instance, about the day Jesus cleared the Temple of the merchants and money changers. First of all, the scene itself is difficult to picture. Jesus, whom I typically think of as even-tempered and mild, fashions a whip – a whip! – out of rope and uses it to chase the transgressors out of the building. He scatters the coins onto the floor and then, consumed with anger and disgust, he turn...
January 18, 2014
January 17, 2014
When the Highlight of Your Week is a Whole Foods Date {and I don’t mean date as in the fruit, I mean date as in romantic entertainment}
Brad and I went on a date this week…to the new Whole Foods store that recently opened in Lincoln. This is what we do. We like food. We are foodie people.
We grabbed a green basket and rambled up and down the aisles, marveling over the five varieties of quinoa and the create-your-own sixpack of microbrew beers. We snagged toothpicks of cheddar cheese and organic brownie bites from the free samples. I took pictures of the olive bar and the dessert display. We eyed the meat case and debated the d...
January 15, 2014
In Which I Officially Announce My Book, Spiritual Misfit {even though you’ve already heard about it a billion times}
It feels like I’ve been yammering about this book for six years straight. I promise, it’ll stop eventually, just as soon as we get this puppy onto the book store shelves and sell a few thousand copies. {wry smile}
Seriously, though, can I say thank you, thank you, thank you for sticking with me, encouraging me, supporting me and pulling me up and out of the ditch of despair over the course of this long and winding road? I quite literally could not have done it without each and every one of you...
January 13, 2014
Hear It on Sunday, Use It on Monday: For the Times You Pray First-World Prayers
A few nights ago I had insomnia. Bad. So bad, in fact, I ended up on the living room couch at 2 a.m., staring out the window at the frost-covered branches lit brilliant in the moonlight. Both Brad and I suffer from insomnia, so four nights out of seven, one of us is usually on the couch. I cringe to think of what the kids might be saying to their friends and teachers about the state of our marriage.
But I digress.
I prayed on and off as I stared out the window that late night – not about starvi...
