Rev. Ruth D. Fitzgerald served in parish ministry for nine years before being called into conference ministry as Area Minister for the Grand West Association in Michigan. She retired in 2023 from that position. Ruth served on the community board for Pilgrim Manor, then a United Church Homes community, and has been an active board member for the Fountain Hill Center for Counseling and Care, and Ele's Place--West Michigan (a healing center for grieving children and teens) all in Grand Rapids. Ruth has two grown children and three precious grandchildren. Travel, hiking, knitting, and reading fill her “spare” time.
In this new season of life—early into retirement with grown adult children fully into charting their careers and raising children, I’ve found myself reviewing my own..
A few weeks ago, fellow blogger, John Gantt, wrote these words connecting the “four Cs” of this season’s theme.
When I went to seminary in my forties, I learned the pure pleasure and joy of studying scripture with my heart wide open. I read the familiar passages, and I surely..
Truth be told, I’ve had real difficulty writing this blog post. In fact, even though I’m a procrastinator by nature and always push a deadline, I had to ask for an..
My husband died in 2004 when he was just 49 years old. Since then, I think I’ve had more than my share of “mortality thoughts,” the theme of this series of blog posts...
The view from my window for about the past week has been white—snow-covered. I guess, really, it’s been grey; grey skies, grey light, grey trees. Grey. But, this storm..
My mother was a professor of clothing and textiles at Wayne State University. She earned a bachelor’s degree at that school and then went on to earn a master’s degree at..
Over the past year or so I’ve been in a time of discernment. It has been my experience that these times of anticipating transition or finding a new path in life are not..
