She knew not why she was so forsaken, underlying her challenging situation was a feeling of resignation. This was the way the Lord had chosen to deal with her, she would make the best of it. She was not angry, she had faith, but she was also a realist, her life was hard and would continue to be so.
When life is hard, it is tempting to draw comparisons and pronounce judgement, on ourselves as well as others. We want to make sense of the pain and distance ourselves from it. We have ideals and when our lives don't measure up despite our hard work we yearn for answers. As a church we have high standards and lofty expectations our non compliance is sometimes mistaken for unrighteousness. One of the apostles addressed this challenge. He said we talk about ideals, but we realise that very few people meet those ideals. Talking about ideals is not designed to make those not in those situations feel inadequate but to help provide a focal point to move forward in our lives. (paraphrasing.... I cant find the quote)
As time went on, Naomi recognised some glimmers of hope, the Lord had blessings for her and perhaps had a wonderful plan after all. Her late husbands relative took pity on her and gave Ruth great favor. This lead to a wonderful marriage and a special lineage. Ruth would be the great grandmother of a king and a special ancestor of the Saviour.
What had seemed to be an overwhelming personal tragedy for both women was in fact the pre-cursor to an amazing future!
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| Women of great faith supporting each other. |
I have seen the story of Naomi and Ruth.
ReplyDeleteSome time ago I was called to help a less active member of the church. Her newly wed husband had been in a motorcycle accident and was in intensive care. He was the only son of a lovely couple who were not members.
He had recieved a blessing and when I got to meet them they had been told there was no hope and the hospital was going to turn off the life support. The young wife asked for a blessing of comfort and so with the parents present I gave her a priesthood blessing. The parents were touched and also asked for a blessing. The Spirit poured down love and support for them all, it was one of the most tender experiences of my life.
In the days following, I spent time with them, they were calm and assured, I called their Bishop in another city and explained the situation. The family returned with the body to the open arms of a loving ward.
Later I learnt that they had all started attending church and within a few weeks the couple we baptised. Later that year their newly reactivated daughter-in-law went to the Temple for the first time.
Its early days - but there is a bright future!