Human love - a mixed up mess of hope and bitterness

📖Daily Reading

 Ruth 1

🎥 Video  

Join me on my morning walk as we rise and shine together by walking through the Bible daily and learn a practical applicable coaching nugget from the ultimate life coach - our creator (whatever that means to you). No judgement zone here, all are welcome, we are all on a spiritual journey because we are after all spiritual beings having a human experience.

 

📝 Reflection 

 Ruth 1:20-21

“Don’t call me Naomi,” she responded. “Instead, call me Mara, for the Almighty has made life very bitter for me, I went away full, but the Lord has brought me home empty. Why call me Naomi when the Lord has caused me to suffer and the Almighty has sent such tragedy upon me?”

 

On this day after Valentine’s Day I thought it would be appropriate to talk about love and how we human’s make it a mixed up mess of hope and bitterness. As I am reading the first couple of chapters of Ruth I can identify so much with both of these women. First they must have had a strong loving relationship for Ruth to want to accompany her mother in law, Naomi, back to Naomi’s home town of Bethlehem and leave her own home of Moab.  When they are all left widowed, Naomi makes the decision to head back home to Bethlehem, where she will have a more likely time finding provision for herself in old age. Her daughters in law Orpah and Ruth both want to go with her. She pleads with them not to, as they will be able to get re-married and have good lives. She sees her future as over and only bitterness is left for her. She is so sad, bitter and so hopeless.

Orpah reluctantly agrees and goes back home, but Ruth insists and won’t take no for an answer. She says in verse 16 “don’t ask me to leave you and turn back. Wherever you go, I will go; wherever you live, I will live. Your people will be my people, and your God will be my God.” The foundation of Naomi’s life must have been her love for God, for Ruth to see such hope in her and cause her to cling to her so tightly. Even though Naomi is not currently hopeful, Ruth’s knows she has enough hope and belief in God and their future for both of them.  We must be careful to not let the bitterness overtake us and lose hope. It would have been very easy to do. Naomi had seemingly lost it all, her husband, both of her sons and now her home. If we stay focused on just our human circumstances and rely on only our human capacity for love, bitterness can easily take root and then take over.  Ruth chose to focus on God and the hope that he provided and that she had seen evidence of in her mother in law in previous years. This is a good message for us as well. We must cling to the hope of God to guard against being overtaken by bitterness. Ruth had also lost a lot and had reason to be bitter, but she didn’t succumb to it. 

With Naomi seeing and accepting Ruth’s determination she also was seeing and accepting and maybe borrowing some of Ruth’s hope. This is also the beauty of human love when it includes God in the mix as Ruth reminds us and her mother in law. When she is saying “your God will be my God”, she is reminding them both that they are not alone in this. We get a glimmer of the hope that lies before them. These two women show the potential of what human love can be. Ruth didn’t deny or try to change Naomi’s grief or bitterness. She came along side of her and loved her and shared her hope as she also helped Naomi bear the burden of her bitterness.  

This is also what God does for us. He come along side, he helps us carry our burdens, he gives us hope for the future. He gently urges us to abide in Him. Ruth chose to focus on God and the hope that he provided and that she had seen evidence of in her mother in law in previous years. This is a good message for us as well. We must cling to the hope of God to guard against being overtaken by bitterness.  

 

✍🏼Daily Journal Prompt 

 How can you show the hope of God’s love to yourself and someone else today? 

📖Tomorrows Reading

 Ruth 2

Coaching Opportunity

Let's make 2023 the year of YOU by laying a solid foundational mind set! The world needs what only you have to offer! Give yourself the best gift ever, the best version of you is ready to rise & shine!

Book your free📞Wake Up Call today to learn if this is what you have been waiting for!  

If you have stuck with me this far, then you are not reading this by accident, I believe God has a plan for you and is calling you forward!😉🤩

 

CONNECT WITH ME

Subscribe to Rise & Shine✨Together Daily Encouragement

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/felecia.b.holmes (personal)

Rise & Shine Together Private Community: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1093183278239989

You Tube: Rise & Shine Playlist