Living in the Spirit
October 27, 2015

Scripture Reading: Ruth 1:1-18

No, my daughters, it has been far more bitter for me than for you, because the hand of the Lord has turned against me.’ Then they wept aloud again. Orpah kissed her mother-in-law, but Ruth clung to her.

 So she said, ‘See, your sister-in-law has gone back to her people and to her gods; return after your sister-in-law.’ But Ruth said, ‘Do not press me to leave you or to turn back from following you! Where you go, I will go; where you lodge, I will lodge; your people shall be my people, and your God my God. Where you die, I will die—there will I be buried. May the Lord do thus and so to me, and more as well, if even death parts me from you!’ –Ruth 1:13b-17

I am sure to Naomi it seemed like God had forsaken her having to immigrate to a foreign land, followed by the death of her husband and both of her sons. She perhaps could not see through all that grief, God had sent her Ruth, a daughter-in-law who would accept Naomi’s God and dedicate her life to the care of Naomi.

I was only five when my father’s mother died so I only have vague memories of her. I remember her telling me that I was not to turn the knobs on the gas range in the kitchen. Funny the things that stick in a kids mind. I remember sitting on the little seat at her “dressing table” and her powdering my back with a big soft puff. I remember her face when my aunt pulled back the cover to show me that she was at peace in death. More than anything else, I remember that she and my mother were best of friends. My mother loved my paternal grandmother like Ruth loved Naomi.

My grandmother buried two husbands both leaving her with young children to raise. Her life was not easy. I also remember her working in the kitchen talking quietly to God many times a day. She practiced the presence of God by praying without ceasing. Naomi apparently did too.

Prayer: Omnipresent God, we lift our hearts in praise for your relentless accompanying us through all our hardships and all our joys. Amen.

All scriptures are quoted from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized Edition, copyright 1989, 1995, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of American. Used by permission. All rights reserved.