Tonight is the fifth night we’ve tucked in our new son. Five nights, and this is what strikes me: Sometimes responding to the Lord isn’t hard. When I first heard the whispers of the Lord saying there was another Ayres’ child, my response was blunt.No. You must be talking to the wrong person. No. Absolutely not. No. No. No.You can fight me on this, Ruth, but you must know he is just getting older.You’ve gotta be kidding. This was the sound of my spirit yielding.My concern has been it will be… Read more choosing to follow →
It’s time. I created Ruth Ayres Writes as a place to discover, play, and build my writing life. It’s been a fun little space in my life, and I am… Read more it’s time to change (a little) →
We were standing in the office of Jordan’s new school. The secretaries — there are two and they are the kind of school secretaries all schools should have — asked, “So, what do you think of all of this.” Jordan didn’t answer right away. He smiled and I was ready to say something for him when the words started tumbling out of his mouth: “I feel like God is pouring His blessings down on me. Getting my forever family is like getting to have my birthday every single day for… Read more A Birthday Every Day →
The dishes are done.The lunches are packed.The dryer is ready to buzz any moment. And there are four children under our roof. Hannah.Stephanie.Jordan.Sam. It feels right.(And very sleepy out.)
I won’t be sorry that I wrote tonight. Tonight I sit in the same place I sit each night, my laptop balanced on my legs, and my pirate quilt snugged around me. Tonight he sits beside me watching a game, just like most nights. Tomorrow I will sit in this same place, with the same blanket snugged around me, and the same guy beside me. Tonight the dishes are done, the lunches are packed, and the dryer is close to buzzing the end of the cycle. Tomorrow the dishes will… Read more tonight (soLs) →
I’m not a stranger to waiting. It was during our wait for Sam when I realized much of life is spent waiting. It is typical to be waiting for something. We wait for appointments and cashiers and packages. We wait for vacations and weekends and holidays. We wait for tests to be over. We wait for family — wanting them to arrive, saying good-bye as they leave, hoping they come back. Life is filled with waiting. Perhaps the living isn’t so much in the events, but in the wait. As… Read more waiting →
There are moments in life when we know the choice we are making isn’t going to make life any easier. Sometimes these are small choices — I’m going to stick… Read more shine →
I’ve not blogged for over 15 days.I didn’t intend not to blog.It just happened. And I’m glad. I needed the space to think and imagine and become. I needed to get a hold of my writing life. I needed some time to listen and sit and quite simply be. I remembered the magic of living. My pen kept moving in an old fashioned journal. I kept writing, putting words down on the page, not because I had to, but because I wanted to. I’ve been steeped in scripture and words are swirling.… Read more write unapologetically →
As a writer, I often “prune” my words. As Ralph Fletcher taught in one of his early books, it is often by cutting back the extra, wild, or dead parts that a flower flourishes. The same is true for our words. I like to share this idea with students too. Young writers are often consumed with adding words. It’s a big shift to consider cutting back. Yet, writing well is just as much about what you don’t say as what you do say. Revising is just as much about adding… Read more cutting back (soLs) →
