Ruth Writes

A room of one’s own

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  • There’s another in the fire.

    For many years now, I’ve been reassured by the Bible story of Daniel’s friends, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego. They had an incredibly tough time, getting thrown into a blazing furnace. Before that happened, they said that they believed God would rescue them but even if he does not they would still believe. That even if…

  • Sometimes the cake

    Turns out just fine. I don’t know about you, but I set out every day expecting things to go wrong. And then I can say ‘I knew that would happen’ or ‘of course’ or, worst of all, ‘I told you so.’ How Eeyore of me.

  • The Lost Things

    Almost a year ago, I introduced you to my book, The Lost Things. Some were interested enough to get monthly instalments of the story. That’s done now, so I’ve released the entire book on Amazon for you all. While a tantalising chapter with a cliffhanger ending might do it for some, I have learnt that…

  • Sometimes it’s the imperfect things

    That tell the most interesting stories.

  • Like little pieces of the sky

    I was listening to Rich Mullins at the weekend for the first time in years. One of his lyrics registered with me, ‘So may peace rain down from HeavenLike little pieces of the skyLittle keepers of the promiseFalling on these souls, the drought has dried’.

  • Running on empty

    During these hard pandemic times, everyone has run out of steam.

  • When life won’t go clockwise.

    As it was during the first lockdown, something has been brought back now:

  • The ‘heart of infancy’*.

    ‘have a childhood of the mind no less than a childhood of the body’.* Over these past months of homeschooling, missed exams, changing criteria and restricting lockdowns my thoughts have gone back to a book by Dickens that I studied at university called Hard Times.

  • Stand-fast

    I finished The Pilgrim’s Progress last night. While it was tough going, I met a few characters that I admire, and wanted to tell you a little bit about one of them today.

  • No need to reciprocate,

    Just receive. My dog Hazel taught me another lesson today. She rolled onto her back and presented her tummy to me. At the start she tried to lick me to say thank-you but after a few minutes she gave up, lay back and just let herself enjoy it.