PAINTING: RUTH GATHERING WHEAT by Lorie McCown 
This morning I spent time listening to the Word in Lectio Divina on Ruth 2,2-3;7. Ruth, a Moabite, had returned to Judah with her mother-in-law, Naomi, after she had lost her husband and two sons, one of whom had been Ruth’s husband.
Two women with no men to care for or protect them,they returned impoverished.Ruth, undaunted, asked Naomi if she might glean in wheat fields behind someone whom she could trust. Naomi consented and off Ruth went, working from early morning til evening.
Perhaps you know the story. What touched my heart this morning was Ruth’s willingness to work among the poor at a simple and uncertain task: gleaning what grain was left by those who worked the fields for their owners. She found people to follow who would not mistreat her, and she put her trust in Naomi’s God.
“She gleaned in the field behind the reapers. As it happene, she came to the part of the field belonging to Boaz…” The result of this “happening” changed the lives of Ruth, Naomi, Boaz, the the Jewish people.
“As it happened…” Those words stayed with me for the day, reminding me of the importance of living in the moment, doing what one can when faced with uncertainty, and trusting in God’s Presence.
Eventually, if my heart is open and my spirit willing, something occurs that changes my life even before I am aware of its import. The unknown begins slowly to resolve into possibility, possibility into reality.
Our journeys are constantly changing, presenting challenges and unknowns. At times, the very ground beneath us turns into sea with no mooring in sight. Yet, as Ruth knew in her heart, something remains solid, something remains a still-point when all else is falling apart. It is beyond our vision, but we are not required to see, only to trust, to do what must be done in the moment and then for us, as for Ruth, what is Good will be. Remembering, we, too will say: “As it happened…”
© 2010 Mary van Balen
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