Michelle DeRusha's Blog, page 57
January 11, 2014
January 10, 2014
It is Enough {My One Word for 2014}
A girl can read a whole lot of back issues ofMore Magazine on a seven-hour drive home from Minnesota before the word sinks in.
So there I am, staring out the window at the white fields and cartwheeling windmills of Iowa, MoreMagazine open on my lap, when the word slips quietly into my consciousness.
“I think I have a word,” I say, turning to Brad.
“What kind of word?” he asks, pulling out his earbud. He’s listening to Wild in one ear while he drives. The kids play MineCraft on our phones in the...
January 8, 2014
Fail Better
A couple of weeks ago I came across last year’s list of New Year’s Resolutions. Let’s just say 2013 was an epic fail, as least as far as resolutions are concerned:
Exercise: Register and run for a 10K. Fail.
Sleep: Lights off by 10 p.m.; up at 5:45 a.m. Fail.
Health:Take a multi-vitamin and calcium pill daily. Fail.
Spirituality: Dinnertime Bible reading. Fail.
Work: Off the computer between 7-9 a.m. and between 3:30 – 9 p.m.Fail times ten.
Like I said, epic fail.
The thing about failure is that it...
January 6, 2014
Because Small Moments Matter: A Year in Pictures {2013}
New Year’s Day has come and gone, and I’m just now sitting down to reflect. We are back from ten days in the North Woods of Minnesota. Days full of laughter, wrestling and Uno. Afternoons of bundling ourselves in layer upon layer of wool and fleece to tumble down powdery slopes, traipsing through knee-deep snow as the chickadees flitted amid naked birch.
So as I slowly slide back into the rhythm of writing, I thought I’d offer a look back at 2013 through the camera lens. Thanks for bearing wit...
January 4, 2014
Weekend One Word: Quiet
Pausing just a little longer here…regular blogging will resume on Monday. Hoping you are enjoying a restful and refreshing start to the New Year.
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December 25, 2013
The Lowly and the Magnificent
My husband, Brad, wrote this piece for our church’s daily e-devotional, and I loved it so much, I asked him if I could run it here today – the perfect post for Christmas Day. Wishing you and your loveys a blessed and happy Christmas and a joyful New Year. See you on January 8! Much love and gratitude, Michelle
When our first son was born with a nasty case of colic, the nurses showed us how to swaddle him up tight. It helped calm him a bit, but since the colic didn’t go away for six months, I e...
December 23, 2013
Hear It on Sunday, Use It on Monday: The Radical Rebel Magi
We often picture them as wise, old sages, or perhaps as kings, based on the familiar Christmas carol. But historically we actually don’t know a lot about these magi who visited the Messiah after his birth. We don’t know their names or their origin – although the text does say they came from “eastern lands” – or even their occupation. Some historians suggest the wise men were part of a priestly class, while others surmise, based on the men’s knowledge of the stars, that they were astrologers.
W...
December 21, 2013
December 20, 2013
Leaf Bags, Banana Bread, a Note in a Stranger’s Mailbox {#SmallThingsGreatLove}
I envisioned writing a lot more about the Small Things in Great Love initiative this Advent than I actually have. Turns out, these things I’m doing really are small. Really small. So small, in fact, that a #SmallThingsGreatLove blog post might typically look something like this:
I made cheerful conversation with the cashier at SuperSaver yesterday. The End.
See what I mean? Not a lot of meat there.
But you know, that’s okay. Not everything in life warrants a finely tuned story all tied up with a...
December 18, 2013
When Your Christmas is Ugly
I told Brad the other night at dinner that this is the first year in several that I have actual felt even a bit of Christmas joy. Three years ago we mourned the loss of my mother-in-law, Janice, who had died in September. The following year my father-in-law Jon was diagnosed with terminal cancer two weeks before Christmas. Last year was our first Christmas without him. Let me say point-blank: Christmas sucked for three years straight.
It’s so easy to get ensnared in the glittery, caroling, ice...
