We are gathered here today for my son’s, my first-born’s, wedding. An hour from now, the word “mine” for David will primarily belong to his breathtaking bride, and I taste salt at the thought. “Thank you for raising the man of my dreams,” she wrote me, ever thoughtful, tender, generous.

When did the sense of adventure wane? Had I become so adult and responsible that maintaining the daily to-do list was my highest aspiration? Sure, what seems natural to so many women:

Must we constantly pick sides? Must we be labeled either Republican or Democrat, for or against every issue of life or the public square? Don’t get me wrong; there are causes I would fight for, die for, live for. But how easily I become what I fight against!

Ruth 3:11“And now, my daughter, do not fear. I will do for you all that you request, for all the people of my town know that you are a virtuous woman.” To what situation is He telling you, “And now, my daughter, do not fear. “?

Why did Boaz promise Ruth to do for her all that she requested?

Comfort without Comparison

Ask your Father to show you His love afresh:

Ruth 2:13

“Then she said, “Let me find favor in your sight, my lord; for you have comforted me, and have spoken kindly to your maidservant, though I am not like one of your maidservants.” Describe comfort:

Like the pressure of a slowly approaching tropical storm, this was a year of gradually increasing weight on my aging shoulders. Too much for one so clumsy in life, still learning to be an adult despite the spiderweb of lines on my face.

I have informed my Maker of this on countless occasions.

Ruth 2:10

“So she fell on her face, bowed down to the ground, and said to him, “ Why have I found favor in your eyes, that you should take notice of me, since I am a foreigner?” What emotions do you think prompted in Ruth’s question?

Ruth 2:5-9. Week 7

Day 1 – Whose is this?

Ask the Author to open your eyes to Him:

Ruth 2:5

“Then Boaz said to his servant who was in charge of the reapers, “Whose young woman is this?” What do you think Boaz noticed in Ruth?

“So Ruth the Moabitess said to Naomi, “ Please let me go to the field, and glean heads of grain after him in whose sight I may find favor.” And she said to her, “ Go, my daughter.”

Why do you think the Author mentions Ruth’s nationality, but not Naomi’s?

This entire week, we will mine the treasures found in this one verse: Ruth 2:1

“There was a relative of Naomi’s husband, a man of great wealth, of the family of Elimelech. His name was Boaz.” Day 1:

Scholars agree that Boaz is a type of Jesus, and we will approach him as such. Invite Him to show you more of Who He is:

No pain pierces me more than that of watching helplessly when a loved one is in agony like an unprotected nerve, it sends jolts of sharp shocks through my system, and everything inside me is in that primal, raw state of I must act! I must stop this. Now!

Now the two of them went until they came to Bethlehem. And it happened, when they had come to Bethlehem, that all the city was excited because of them; and the women said, “ Is this Naomi?”

But she said to them, “Do not call me Naomi; call me Mara, for the Almighty has dealt very bitterly with me. I went out full, and the Lord has brought me home again empty. Why do you call me Naomi, since the Lord has testified against me, and the Almighty has afflicted me?”

Then they lifted up their voices and wept again; and Orpah kissed her mother- in- law, but Ruth clung to her. Glance back over Ruth 1:1-13.

Then she arose with her daughters- in- law that she might return from the country of Moab, for she had heard in the country of Moab that the Lord had visited His people by giving them bread. Therefore she went out from the place where she was, and her two daughters- in- law with her; and they went on the way to return to the land of Judah.

We will read these five verses every day, and then meditate on them, one a day. Ruth 1:1-5

Now it came to pass, in the days when the judges ruled, that there was a famine in the land. And a certain man of Bethlehem, Judah, went to dwell in the country of Moab, he and his wife and his two sons. The name of the man was Elimelech, the name of his wife was Naomi, and the names of his two sons were Mahlon and Chilion — Ephrathites of Bethlehem, Judah.

Welcome to my virtual garden at the ocean’s edge. Come, lean into the winds blowing from eternity and let them touch you where you need it most. This is a place of holding raw reality in open hands to the Creator Who gives beauty for ashes, Who understands every fluttering heart beat, and Who loves us at our worst.