We continue our “Ordinary Time” look at women of the Bible who can help us see where God is present in our daily, ordinary, routine lives. Have you ever done a spiritual exercise where you chart out what amount of time you spend each day doing various things? It can be very illuminating. How much time do you spend in prayer or Bible reading? What percentage do you spend answering email (YIKES)? Do you find your time is taken up with mundane tasks like vacuuming or washing dishes? When do you find time to do things for others? Are there other categories you can think of? I did this just recently in response to my own questions above—and was a bit amazed at the amount of time email and social media consume… Makes you stop and think about where your day goes.
Naomi is the co-protagonist in the Book of Ruth in the Bible. We meet her as a young mother doing all the things relating to having growing boys. Even though she didn't have social media and email I'm sure she spent some daily time visiting with friends and neighbors. It's an important part of who we are. We need that human connection.
We follow her to Moab where her sons grow up and get married. She likely took on new duties as they grew and when they brought home wives. New communities form around the new duties. Then, tragedy strikes when Naomi’s husband and both sons die. I’m sure that the daily duties seemed onerous in her grief. To add to her work and worry, a woman without male protector was likely to become impoverished. Therefore, she makes the difficult and frightening decision to travel back to Bethlehem. It seems that she retreated into herself in her grief and planned to cut ties with friends.
As we saw last week, Ruth, one of the daughters-in-law,
returns with her as a refugee and widow to glean in the fields. Upon their
arrival in Bethlehem, Naomi is grieving and depressed. She doesn't seem to want to be welcomed even by old friends, saying, Call
me Mara for the Lord has dealt harshly with me. However, God acts in the
very ordinariness of her grief and despair to offer hope and remind us that
faith isn’t always sunshine and rainbows. Sometimes faith is a dark night of
the soul when we think God is far away.
We know that Naomi trusted that the Law of Moses would
provide for her and for Ruth. That was why she returned to Bethlehem. She seems
to not have totally given up on God even though she is in despair. There can be
times when we can simply hang onto the slightest bit of a string at the end of
our rope. And God can use that to haul us back to the sunlight. Sometimes that thread is the love and outreach of a friend or family member.
Naomi felt lost and alone and desolate except for Ruth’s
companionship. She was like the lost sheep Jesus talks about. He explains that God
is like a Shepherd who leaves 99 members of the flock to find the lost one and
brings it back to the flock on his shoulder. Pause to think about the effort
required to carry a sheep on your shoulders. The images we see in art are often
of a sweet little lamb being cuddled, but Jesus says ‘sheep’ which can average
around 200 pounds. Look at this image from Google and imagine carrying one of
the animals over your shoulder. And, I suspect that the critter might be
squirming, too. OOOF!
It works, because God is in the tiniest of details. Naomi
become a grandmother. Her friends rejoice with her! Her ordinary routine changed again with new grandmotherly
tasks, which she no doubt rejoiced in. A life that seemed to stretch out
hopeless is now filled with hope and love.
God acted in the despair of grief and destitution to bring
new life and hope.
Think of times in your life when something similar has happened to you.
Can you be a hand to help someone out of the chasm of their lonliness, loss, despair or fear?
Might you be the one to bring the sheep home to the fellowship of the rest of the flock?
Is there time in your day to do that?
