May 18, 2022

Ruth 2: 3 (NIV)

So she went out and began to glean in the fields behind the harvesters. As it turned out, she found herself working in a field belonging to Boaz, who was from the clan of Elimelech.

We weren’t created to pursue the lives we want.*

When I was a single mom, my boys went off to their dad’s every other weekend. On those childless weekends, my friend and I took advantage of my freedom to go out and have fun. Both of us were interested in remarrying some day but in the meantime, we just went our merry way. I joked that Prince Charming wasn’t going to come knocking on my door and that even if he did, I wouldn’t be home anyway.

The truth is, whatever you think it is that’s missing from your life - whether it’s love, friends, career advancement, purpose – you probably won’t find it by looking for it. Ruth was a young widow with very few resources but instead of launching a campaign to find a man to fulfill her needs, she just lived her life. She went out in the fields to glean behind the harvesters – hardly glamorous – because that was her current opportunity, and she just happened to find herself in the field of her Prince Charming. If she had been franticly searching for love in all the wrong places, she might have missed her chance to meet Boaz and to become an ancestor of the Messiah.

My advice for you, if you have a void in your life, is to walk with God. Ask him to fill that vacancy. Live your life, take advantage of opportunities, and wait for God to make arrangements. He will either fulfill your desires or you will find yourself no longer desiring the same things.

By the way – my happy ending: part of “living my life” included being involved in the singles group at my church. It was at a singles group Christmas party at the home of my minister and his wife that I met my Prince Charming. And we lived happily ever after.

He knows precisely when we are spiritually ready to receive blessings for our gain and His glory.*