Walking with Ruth

I’ve been thinking about what it means to be ruthless and what it means to have “ruth”.

Ruth is one of the few women to have the distinction of having a book of the Bible named after them.

We all know that Ruth was the daughter-in-law of Naomi.  Naomi’s husband died, then both of her sons, including Ruth’s husband, died.  Naomi told her daughter-in-laws to return to their own people.  However, Ruth “clave” unto Naomi.  Clave is a past tense of the word “cleave”.  One of the definitions of cleave is, “to remain faithful”.   So she followed Naomi to the land of the Israelites.  They weren’t Ruth’s people, she was a Moabite.  She said to Naomi, “Whither thou goest I will go; and where thou lodgest I will lodge: thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God.”

Ruth went to glean in the field to provide for her mother-in-law.  She had the good fortune to glean in a field belonging to Boaz, who has a relative of Ruth’s late husband.  Boaz told the young men that they were not to touch her.  Ruth wanted to know how she had found grace in his eyes.  It was because of her faithfulness to Naomi.

Mean girls

Have you ever seen that movie “Mean Girls”?  You know the one where there is this popular clique at school, who loved torturing anyone who didn’t fit into their group.

Well, I have come to realize that it goes on way past high school.  Not that we deliberately set out to ridicule or hurt each other.  It’s that as people, especially as women, we judge each other based on our versions of perfection.

We tend to “should” on each other a lot.

Working moms think that stay at home moms should do more to help their family’s finances.

Stay at home moms think that working moms should be with their families instead of promoting their own careers.

How we get through

I was thinking about how we get through the rough days.  What do we cling to that keeps us going?

Yesterday I had a seizure and felt like crap.  My sweet husband came home and jumped right in to help make dinner.  He is so good to me!

Today I’m still not up to my usual self.  I came across something that was sent to me years ago, by an online friend.  I’ve seen a few variations of the words.  It was later put to music and used in hymnals.  These words got me through so much.  I think it is just beautiful!  So I thought I’d share it with you today.

 

Not Knowing  – by Mary G. Brainard  –  written in the 1800s

 

I know not what shall befall me,

God hangs a mist o’re my eyes,

And at each step of my onward path

He makes new scenes to rise,

And every joy He sends me comes

As a sweet and glad surprise.