Naomi's Story: Starting Again
At left: Ancient Moabite inscription, The Stela of Mesha I just finished re-reading the Old Testament book of Ruth as I make my way through that portion of Scripture. Teachers and commentators have described the book as a human love story, a picture of God's love for Israel, and a picture of Christ's love for the Church. For me, the story of Naomi and Ruth is also a story about making peace with loss, expressing fear (fear= f ace e verything a nd r ecover), finding a new way to live, and losing attachments to old dreams. It's a story about starting over. The four short chapters of this book (it's a quick read--click on this post's title) tell about two women who experienced the deaths of their husbands (and, in that day, their economic support and security), temporary homelessness, living on charity, and living as foreigners in a strange land. In spite of all of this, when these women turned to God, God granted them joy, security, family, love, and a future. What m...