Ruth

But Ruth said, "Do not urge me to leave you or to return from following you. For where you go I will go, and where you lodge I will lodge. Your people shall be my people, and your God my God. Where you die I will die, and there will I be buried. May the Lord do so to me and more also if anything but death parts me from you." And when Naomi saw that she was determined to go with her, she said no more. (Ruth 1:16-18)

Lord,
Yesterday did not begin
The way I thought it would.
Adalheid has told me,
For as long as she has known me,
That she and her family would someday
Be moving to Arizona.
We had spoken about
Me going with them
When that time came
As a reality
To be taken for granted.
"Someday," in my head,
Was in a number of years.

Someday has been accelerated
To within the next year.

Of course,
I had an internal, mini nervous breakdown
As the factions of my life
Began warring for dominance
In my head.
Family. Pets. Jobs. Apartment.
Church. Personal crusades.
The doubts and misgivings and petty thoughts
Cycloned in my mind
Until I thought I would explode.
I panicked, and the workday
Was a roller coaster ride
Of emotions
Better left alone.

After lunch,
I entertained daydreams
About the timbre and hue
My life would take on
If Adalheid and the king and the wandering momma
And Fifi and the parrots
Moved...
And I stayed behind.

The idea of that
Was far more than I could face.
Her home
Has become my home.
Her family
Has become my family.
How did all our lives
Become so entwined?

Lord,
Adalheid's presence
Stretches so far beyond
The usual bounds of friendship
That I cannot put it in words.
She is one of the graces
That You have blessed me with;
I am bound to her, Lord,
By a bond so strong and deep
That I tremble before it.
How could I,
In good conscience,
Ever willingly part from her?

Lord,
I am Yours
Before I am anyone else's.
I don't profess to know
What it is
That You have in store for me,
But You led me
To Adalheid and her family,
So I must take it on faith
That You, who knows all things,
And You, who makes all good things,
Are behind these plans.
I humbly ask for
Your Blessing
And Grace,
And Protection,
And Guidance
For all of us
In the months ahead.

Ah, Ruth,
My spiritual ancestor,
You chose faithfulness to Naomi
Over your own comfort and peace of mind.
For your steadfastness,
You were grafted into
The ancestry
Of the Messiah.

Father,
I am Ruth to Adalheid's Naomi.
She is precious to me,
Her and her whole family.
You are Love,
And you have given me
Her and her family
To love
And be loved by.
I will not be afraid
Of the course ahead
Because everything else
Is incidental...