It begins with Naomi…and her husband Elimelech.
They had two sons, and after Elimelech’s death, the two sons married foreign
women named Orpah and Ruth. When the two sons died, they left their two widows
in a distant land with their mother. Orpah, upon the bidding of her
mother-in-law, returned to her home and her family: the rational decision.
Ruth, on the other hand, refused to leave Naomi alone: the irrational decision.
Because of her irrationality, her kind stubbornness, it then becomes Ruth’s
story.
I went gleaning today
with Fields to Families. I’ve worked with them once
before, and they’re a really awesome organization that I should work with more
often. At ten this morning, I met up with a few friends and a few strangers in
downtown Charleston to head out to Rosebank Farm on John’s Island. We took a
red minivan and a silver SUV…like the cool people we are. We had some
adventures trying to get there. RocketVan, as our red minivan became known,
made some awesome u-turns, though, and in spite of a faulty GPS, we made it. It
was beautiful in that drawling way that the Lowcountry has, with Spanish moss
dripping from old oaks that form endless archways over dirt roads. The field
where we were gleaning had lines of collards that had burst into little yellow
flowers as tall as me, which is impressively tall for a collard green plant. We
were gleaning collards…
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Ruth's story took her to Bethlehem in the early spring—just
in time for the barley harvest. One day, Ruth asked Naomi if she could go out
into the fields and gather grain behind the harvesters. A relative of Naomi's
husband, Boaz, happened to own the field where Ruth went to collect food for
Naomi and herself. He inquired about Ruth, and his foreman explained to him how
hardworking she was, collecting grain tirelessly and rarely taking a
break.
Anyone at a loss for what “gleaning” means? It’s central to
what Fields to Families does. Local farmers with extra crops that they aren’t
going to use or that they want to give to others let volunteers come in and
harvest the extra. Then Fields to Families take the extra and give it to
organizations that feed hungry people who, under normal circumstances, don’t
have access to healthy food.
Boaz went to Ruth and welcomed her
to his field, encouraging her to help herself to the water in the well if she
became thirsty and inviting her to eat lunch with his harvesters. His kindness
confused her, and what she didn't even know was that he also told his
harvesters to purposefully drop extra barley for her.
We worked for a few
hours, bent over inspecting leaves and breaking off healthy ones. We filled
about ten garbage bags with the green leaves—a little over a hundred pounds of
collards. It didn't feel like we were out there long enough. The breeze was
gentle and cooling in the warm March sun, and even though the bees were
constantly buzzing around our heads, there was something wonderfully relaxing
about the manual labor. One of the girls gleaning with us commented on how nice
it was to be so connected to the source of our food. It's true. Food looks so
different once it's in grocery stores. Most of it is processed, canned, or
boxed. Even the produce, though, has a certain degree of "perfection"
to it that you just don't see in the fields. After gathering our bags of
collards and loading them into the back of RocketVan, we sat in a circle on the
ground and reflected, talking about food deserts, the accessibility of healthy
foods for people with a lower income, educating children to make healthy
choices. I drew circles in the dirt with my finger and thought more about Ruth
and the world she lived in.
At the end of the day, Ruth took home half a
bushel (I think that's about 20 quarts) of barley to Naomi, as well as leftover
food from her lunch. Naomi was delighted, not just at the amount of food Ruth
had provided but moreso at the generosity of Boaz.
I've never looked at
Ruth's story before with a focus on Ruth. I always hear about Boaz and how his
role as the "kinsman-redeemer" is allegorical for Jesus's role in
saving us. I hear about the romance between Boaz and Ruth, and probably like a
lot of Christian girls, I've been told about how incredible it is to have a
kinsman-redeemer marry you. I was talking to my dad about my plans to go
gleaning today, and he pointed out the connection to Ruth. I jokingly asked if
he wanted me to go find my Boaz while on John's Island today. In all
seriousness though, I was astonished at how beautiful Ruth's story is. As I was
collecting the leftover collards, I thought about her story and her character,
and I began to admire her more and more. Ruth was resourceful. She was humble
and submissive,
not usually admirable qualities in people by the world's standards today, but
qualities that I undoubtedly admire in her. She was hardworking and generous.
And she had loyalty to her mother-in-law and to godly love that I envy.
At the end of our day,
we loaded back into RocketVan and the SUV (that wasn't cool enough to have a
nickname) and left John's Island. The RocketVan took the bags of collards to
Crisis Ministries, attempting to make some more awesome u-turns in the process
("attempting" here meaning that we tried and just ended up doing a
3-point turn in the middle of an intersection under the pressure of oncoming
traffic). My roommate and I went back to our dorm and cooked up some stir fry
that featured collard greens and collard flowers. Wow. Trust me when I say food
tastes better when you harvested and cooked it yourself. So good.
.
American life lets me be lazy. I
don't work with my hands. I'm not out in the hot sun meticulously picking up
the barley harvesters overlooked or dropped. But even beyond that...I am lazy.
I'm done with my week by noon on Fridays. Most days, I watch TV or oversleep. I
realize it's good to rest and have time to recharge, but I should actually do
something worthwhile and tiring beforehand! Forget about anything past Ruth
chapter 2, forget about her and Boaz's romance that most Christian girls are
ready to swoon over. Ruth was a beautiful, godly woman....even before Boaz (I
can hear the gasps of shock now...). Maybe I'm alone in having only been taught
Ruth's story in relation to Boaz, but even if you've heard it before, I
encourage you to go back to Ruth and look at her life. I spent an afternoon
living the life of a gleaner, and I saw Ruth's story come to life. It began in
a field on John's Island, harvesting collards and paralleling my life with
hers. But hopefully, the connection doesn't end there.
