Ruth

Every Tuesday morning I gather with 6 other women and we study God's Word together. This particular group started meeting this last Fall when we met at my house to study the book of Esther. Earlier this year we dug into the story of another amazing women of Bible: Ruth. (link to the study we did)


With our last week of study behind us I thought I'd share a thing or two I've learned along the way.


I learned that Ruth was an amazing women.

Widowed and childless she opted to travel with her mother-in-law back to her husband's homeland, a place she was an outsider, a foreigner.

She worked hard in the fields to provide for her mother-in-law and didn't complain and although her people were enemies of the Israelites she was known as a "women of noble character." In the Hebrew Bible to book of Ruth follows directly after the book of Proverbs, more precisely following up the description of a "virtuous women". See Proverbs 31:10-31


I also learned that cooking with a group of women is worth far more than rubies or coral.

Each week during this study we cooked together and ate together. The study itself had recipes and so each week we each volunteered to bring a different item and then when we met the magic came alive!

Of course we have our babies with us.

And some of us tend to gravitate more toward the stove, while others the coffee pot!

After our hardwork and kitchen fellowship we sat down to discuss our weeks study while the meal baked and then we dug in!

Speaking of digging in I had no idea the treasures I'd find in the the book of Ruth.

I had a great Aunt Ruth. She died recently but she was an amazing women. When my father was growing up she helped my grandmother raise her brood of 5. I never saw my Aunt Ruth beyond sitting in her chair, afghan on her lap and a quilt square in her hand; but I heard about her. My dad shares stories of her cooking and cleaning, doing laundry and wiping dirty faces. She was a hard worker and a worker for someone elses benefit, someone elses legacy; yet somehw she was remembered, she did in deed leave a legacy to be remembered.

See the Ruth in the Bible worked hard, got married and had a son; but not a son to carry on her new husbands name but a son to carry on the name and legacy of her dead husband of her mother-in-law. A son who would be the great-grandfather of King David and a son from who's legacy came Jesus the Christ.

It really made me think about why I do what I do?

Is it for my glory?

For my legacy?

Sure I want it all to be for the glory of God, but I'm a fairly self-centered person and often have my own interests in mind.

So after studying this book of Ruth I have a new found desire to not only work hard but also to find joy in working for the betterment, for lack of a better term, of another's legacy.

Whether it be the legacy of our youth group,

my friend,

my neighbor

or my children's children.

Lord may I work with all my might as if working for you.