Love who you have
| Then Naomi said to her two daughters-in-law, "Go back, each of you, to your mother's home. May the LORD show kindness to you, as you have shown to your dead and to me. 9 May the LORD grant that each of you will find rest in the home of another husband." Then she kissed them and they wept aloud 10 and said to her, "We will go back with you to your people." (Ruth1:8-10) |
The behaviour of her daughters-in-law tells a very different story...
We all know the infamous mother-in-law jokes. It is therefore surprising to see that the daughters stay with Naomi even after their husbands die. It is even more striking to learn that they are both willing to go back with Naomi to Bethlehem - especially as the Jews and Moabites weren't too fond of each other!
After some very persuasive arguments Orpah decides to stay with her own family and people but Ruth cannot be convinced.
Although Naomi's circumstances are bitter and although she has experienced much hardship, the behaviour of her daughters-in-law tell us that Naomi herself was not bitter and that she had mastered a key skill in the midst of hardship: Love the ones you have with you.
When our circumstances are hard, we are frustrated and disillusioned. Unfortunately we often lash out and take it out on the people close to us. Often they are not the cause of our pain, but we withdraw from them and neglect our relationships with them. Sometimes we even use them as scratching posts!
But God places these people in our lives for a couple of important reasons:
- They can support us and be our confidants
- They can pray for us
- They can be a blessed distraction
- They can even help us vent out our frustrations - as long as we do it with them and not at them.
- We can actively choose to pour love and care into them and it can do a lot for us.
Naomi must have done this because there is no other explanation as to why her in-law daughters would choose to stay with a foreign woman and even consider going back to foreign land with her instead of returning to the comfort of their own families and culture.
Are you under the pressure of some adverse circumstances?
Love the ones you have!
