Options & Choices

Often I have been drawn to the biblical story of Ruth, intrigued by the relationship of Ruth and Naomi. Pages in my journal make reference to the story. On one scribbled page I have given the story a name, Options and Choices, like the story of my life. So little do we know at the outset, when choices and options present themselves, where they will lead.

Ruth, a Moabite woman, a foreigner who chose to follow her mother-in-law Naomi in a return to her homeland, became a part of Jesus' heritage through Boaz, Obed, Jesse and David. In some small way, a part of the story relates to my relationship with my daughter. In her growing up years, we struggled to work out our independence. She became my mother in a grief time when I had taken on the role of a child. Then, when I again assumed the mother role, she stormed at me: "Mom, you don't know how to listen. You can't listen! I don't care if I don't hear from you for more than a month."

She was right and in some miraculous way I was able to affirm her judgment. The years have passed, the ups and downs, until recently in my old age as we were in phone conversation, she told me, "Mom when you are gone, I will have lost my best friend!" Of course the tears came and they do even as I write this.

A few months ago we celebrated our Ruth and Naomi relationship with a painting created by the religious artist Richard Serrin. ** It truly represents the option and the choice to move on together. God chose Ruth, the simple gleaner, for great glory. I believe we are chosen ---when we choose.

Adaline's book, While It Was Still Dark, conveys her encounter with separation & loss in a succession of sharply limned images. She doesn't discourse about grief, she evokes its many moods.