Matters

              So Boaz said to Ruth, “My daughter, listen to me. Don’t go and glean in another field and don’t go away from here. Stay here with the women who work for me.  Watch the field where the men are harvesting, and follow along after the women. I have told the men not to lay a hand on you. And whenever you are thirsty, go and get a drink from the water jars the men have filled.”

            At this, she bowed down with her face to the ground. She asked him, “Why have I found such favor in your eyes that you notice me—a foreigner?”

             Boaz replied, “I’ve been told all about what you have done for your mother-in-law since the death of your husband—how you left your father and mother and your homeland and came to live with a people you did not know before. May the Lord repay you for what you have done. May you be richly rewarded by the Lord, the God of Israel, under whose wings you have come to take refuge.”

             “May I continue to find favor in your eyes, my lord,” she said. “You have put me at ease by speaking kindly to your servant—though I do not have the standing of one of your servants.”

             At mealtime Boaz said to her, “Come over here. Have some bread and dip it in the wine vinegar.”

            When she sat down with the harvesters, he offered her some roasted grain. She ate all she wanted and had some left over.  As she got up to glean, Boaz gave orders to his men, “Let her gather among the sheaves and don’t reprimand her.  Even pull out some stalks for her from the bundles and leave them for her to pick up, and don’t rebuke her.”

            So Ruth gleaned in the field until evening. Then she threshed the barley she had gathered, and it amounted to about an ephah. She carried it back to town, and her mother-in-law saw how much she had gathered. Ruth also brought out and gave her what she had left over after she had eaten enough. (Ruth 2:8-18)

 

Today’s is a long passage, the gist of which is that Boaz noticed the stranger in his fields, took the time to find out who she was, was aware of the rumors about her, saw to her needs beyond what was necessary, and protected her. He spoke to her and invited her to eat with him. In what he says and does, I see words of affirmation, quality time, giving of gifts, and service. The only love language not included is physical touch. It might have been there, but it might have been inappropriate to either do it or mention it.

            So, let’s go back to the love languages. Which is/are yours? Which is/are not yours? I think my best may be acts of service but that might be because I can focus on the service, not the person. As I read today’s passage, I felt strongly convicted about his noticing Ruth. The serving, words, gifts, and time were outgrowths of his actively noticing her. It wasn’t just “Oh, there’s a stranger. Who’s she? Oh, OK.” It was, “There’s a stranger. Who is she? I’ve heard about her. Let me spend time with, speak with, give to, and serve her.” I wouldn’t be surprised if there wasn’t some “pray for” in there, too. There’s a lot of attention there.

            Some people seem to think that we should pay absolute, rapt attention to anyone we encounter, as if we have eternity to sit there and gaze into their eyes and listen to what they say…absolute focus on nothing but that person. That’s what Boaz seems like in this passage. He had already stalked her, finding out all about this person who came home with Ruth – after all, Ruth deserved to be protected, too. Now he finds her there and once he gets the report from his men, nothing else matters. Maybe he was smitten, so maybe that’s the case, but as I look at this, I see a level of perfection that God may be able to accomplish, but if it’s expected of me, I may as well slit my throat.

            Don’t worry. It’s not on my To Do list. But as I think about Boaz, ultimately, what I see is that people existed and mattered to him. My word of the year seems to be “matter.” I’m trying to learn to have it matter what I eat, read, do, etc. That’s not to say that I don’t have some good habits, but I tend to go through them by rote, without connecting them with me. Acts of service is one of my main love languages, but I tend to focus on the act rather than on the person being loved by it. The act matters, they don’t. I tend to wish I could be invisible, but I’m trying to learn to see myself. And today’s passage brings to mind the idea of seeing other people, and letting them see themselves through what I see.

            I don’t know quite what that will mean, and I can guarantee that I won’t do it as well or as consistently as I think I should. But that seems to be the goal I’m setting – to see myself and others as matter that matters. We’re there, we’re visible, and we have value. How I treat myself and you matters.