Where You Go I Will Go: In the Field With Ruth

You will often hear me make birthday and Christmas statements that I don’t know what to buy for certain loved ones. I find it challenging to find a special unique gift for people who already have everything. Unfortunately, too many “special and unique” gifts over the years have left me running out of ideas.

My search for the perfect gift often leads me off the beaten path to find that ideal heart gift, all the while I forget the most important one is readily available. Time spent together can’t be duplicated or overshadowed. And yet, such a priceless gift is overlooked. A gift that God himself highlights in scripture. A place He highlights so we will take notice.  Why? Because He values it most of all Himself.

I admit I can quickly go off gift hunting for Jesus too. I want a prominent place of significance to serve and honor Him, so I have so many ideas. I can convince myself that my gift offering is not worth giving if I don’t serve Him prominently over here or on the highlight reel over there.

God has been reminding me that, “For I desire faithful love and not sacrifice. The Knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings.” Hosea 6:6 (CSB) Heart gifts are the most important gifts of all. And the gift called giving Him my time and serving others are the most valuable gifts, even to a God who indeed does have everything.

I so love the story of Ruth. This simple, quiet woman who loved so big. She had nothing to offer the world around her but proved herself invaluable to her mother-in-law, suffering the grief of widowhood and child loss. There would be no gift that would prove to be more valuable than this woman’s love and service.

She willingly left behind her people, culture, and the god she grew up to serve to follow her mother-in-law to the land of strangers and serve the God called Jehovah. She stepped out boldly, making her declaration to Naomi, “Don’t plead with me to abandon you or to return and not follow you. For wherever you go, I will go, and where you live, I will live; your people will be my people, and your God will be my God.” Ruth 1:16 (CSB)

She left behind what society had taught her to be her purpose from her youth. She also left behind a chance for another husband to join her mother-in-law in a land filled with strangers and even stranger customs.

In a culture that saw no value in a woman without husbands or sons, she captured the heart of an Almighty God simply by showing up in a field to feed her family of one. With each grain she gleaned, she showcased the very love of Jesus. Her sacrifice became a love offering to her mother-in-law and, in the process, captured the heart of the wealthy landowner Boaz. God used this man to drop his daughter provision right into the palm of her hand and had him watch over her safety with a caring eye. Why? Because He was pleased with her offering.

I have spent many hours studying this selfless woman named Ruth.  If I am honest, I wish I was more like her most days. The whole “where you go, I will go” may sound glamorous, but I have found it hard for this girl to walk out in all reality.  This heart statement carried Ruth from her homeland to gleaning in a field of strangers. And the scene where Boaz shows up and rescues her takes a while.  Let’s face it. Places to serve God often look nothing like we imagine them to be.  Offerings and sacrifices can be challenging to maneuver around.

On New Year’s Day, I generally chose an entire scripture verse to focus on during the upcoming year. This year it was the one-word purpose I felt compelled to reflect on. Over the last several months, I have seen this word repeatedly appear before me. It has popped up in social media feeds, books I have been reading, emails, and in conversations too many to count.

The work of an intentional God to teach his daughter an invaluable lesson. At a time when way down deep inside my soul, I had felt I had lost my purpose. I no longer had this prominent place to serve God anymore. As my husband’s health had continued to decline, I stepped into the role of caregiver, leaving other platforms of God-called service behind.

How could I serve God and make an impact for His kingdom, confined to a life of ordinary, mundane chores and tasks? While other women grew their ministries and platforms, I showed up tending to my own family of one each day. While others forged through mission fields and headed up fundraisers, I was home learning that sometimes doing the ordinary and mundane with faithfulness is perhaps the most significant mission field there is. And maybe if we all are honest, the platforms we often build are more for ourselves than they are for God anyway.

My search for the perfect gift has come full circle in shopping for gifts for my family and offerings for an Almighty God. I am learning we can find no more excellent gift to offer than the giving of our hearts and time.

We will never serve God more faithfully than when we care for those with special needs and who are less fortunate. I will also no longer underestimate the value of the mundane and ordinary tasks of gleaning our field. The small everyday moments we choose to show up in obedience and faithfulness are worth more than all the enormous sacrifices we make combined. The places we show up giving of ourselves and of our time are the greatest gifts we can give to others. And a greater than Boaz takes special notice.

See you in the field,

Susan