I’ve always been a Melody. I think my dad probably chose my name before he even met my mom. Music is in our blood. When I was two, I would sit on the back of the couch and push myself up while I sang…
I don’t know when, I don’t know how, but I know something’s starting right now…
The Little Mermaid, the greatest animated movie of all time ever.
(I love that movie so much that quote just made me giggle. But I’m also excited because its a weirdly appropriate quote.)
My Background
Music has always been a part of me, but as I got older, I dove into other areas of creativity. Theatre became a huge part of my life. And I say theatre, not theater. Not because I’m stuffy about it, but because somewhere along the way I started associating theatre with the art form and theater with the room where it is performed. And then I started writing.
It started with poetry and essays, and then dramatic writing for both screen and stage. One day, I started a story that decided to be in novel format. This whole blog endeavor started because I wanted to be a writer. A writer who just had to use spell check on the work endeavor, by the way. It’s late.
Theatre, music, art, writing. These things comprise so much of what I love. These forms of expression have molded and shaped and defined so much of my life. They have made me Melody. But what about Ruth?
Ruth is not a part of my given name. My middle name is Joy, and it’s a part of who I am, too. But the name Ruth is something different.
Choosing St. Ruth
When I dated and became engaged to my husband, I decided that I wanted to raise my family under his Catholic faith. So I went through RCIA and became Catholic. The Easter before our wedding, I had my confirmation and my first holy communion. And on that day, I chose the name Ruth.
I have always loved the book of Ruth. She displayed great faith and determination to remain with Naomi, even when she had lost everything. Ruth was willing to leave behind her entire world and go into an unknown community and faith. She moved behind the laborers, gleaning a harvest from what lay forgotten. One day, Naomi sent her and she lay down at the feet of Boaz, trusting him to do right. I love that through her marriage, she came into the family of Christ.
Before becoming Catholic, I was already a baptized part of the family of Christ. But that Easter, I entered into the family of the Catholic Church. It has been an amazing journey, one by which I am still daily renewed and changed.
On this strange and beautiful Easter Sunday, I look back on the ten years that have passed since I took the name Ruth and celebrated my first communion. I’m only just beginning to understand the beauty, richness, and depth of the Catholic faith.
This New Journey
In many ways, this new journey is the fulfillment of every facet of who I am. When I started searching for a name for all of this, and for a pen name, the answer was simple. Why not join together the two parts of who I am?
As Melody, I am a writer, a singer, a thespian and artist. I am a mother and wife and friend. As Ruth, I am a daughter of the Most High, accepted and adopted into the family of God. I am a recipient of the most holy Eucharist and saved by the blood of Christ. I am guided by the Holy Spirit, my dearest friend. Like Ruth, I am a quiet laborer, harvesting for Christ. And like Ruth, I wife who came into my Catholic faith family through the faith of my husband.
My good friend Will once wrote:
What’s in a name?
That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet.
-Romeo, Romeo and Juliet, William Shakespeare
Well, I love ya Will, but I disagree with you a little here. There can be so very much in a name. A name is identity and belonging. My name, both given and chosen, holds so much of who I am tied up in its letters.
Thank You for This Journey
It is my deepest hope that in sharing with you why I chose the name Melody Ruth, you can come to know me a little. But truly, like Ruth, I am just a worker who moves behind the Laborer, gleaning from His work and harvest. It is His name above all names.
Because of this, God greatly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bend, of those in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
Philippians 2:9-11
The most important part of my identity lies in His name. I want to walk behind the one true Harvester, to be a part of His family, and to bow at His feet.
I want to get to know you, my reader and friend, and to walk with you behind Him, gleaning with joy and thanksgiving, as we are sustained by Him together. Together we can look at our own names and identities, and see what unique characteristics are bound up in who we are. I want to discover who we are as women, mothers, artists, friends, daughters, and women of faith, together.
~ Melody Ruth
Want to Know More?
Let’s continue the conversation. Get to know me better over here, at my Offerings page. You can learn more about my writing journey, my background, and my goals and plans as a writer. You can also find information on upcoming content and be a part of the decision making for future studies and series.
