EmmDev 2015-11-12 [Resilient Ruth] Unselfish

Unselfish

But Naomi said, "Return home, my daughters. Why would you come with me? Am I going to have any more sons, who could become your husbands?      (Ruth1:11)

Naomi has lost everything. Her home, her husband, her sons and her future. In the male-dominated culture of her day she could not own property and would need an immediate relative to marry her to take control of her late husband's land rights back in Bethlehem.

But she was older - beyond child-bearing and so she had nothing to offer and yet her daughters were willing to stay with her. This would be her only "pension plan" and if she was interested in self-preservation she would hang on to these two daughters who would look after her into old age.

But Naomi does not think of herself. She thinks of what's best for her daughters. So she tells them "Go home and start again among your own people."

This is a very unselfish act. In a book that is short and punchy there are 10 verses devoted to Naomi trying to persuade her daughters-in-law to do the obvious and least risky thing.

This unselfish attitude in the midst of great loss is particularly noteworthy, because great loss often causes us to neglect others and focus exclusively on our own pain and misery and see the people around as pillars that we are entitled to lean on.

Naomi teaches us the one of the key ways to deal with pain is to keep the needs and best-interests of others at the forefront of our minds. We should do all we can to be other-centered - even when times are tough.