Glean

I am reading through Ruth right now.  I was sitting outside on this BEAUTIFUL morning listening to Irelyn swing back and forth while I read.  After I read a chapter, I open my MacArthur bible commentary to get a little deeper into the passages.  Throughout Ruth chapter 2, Ruth talks about going out to the grain fields to glean.  I was thinking that this word must mean pick up or collect.  When I looked it up in my commentary I found that it was not just a verb, it was a way of life.

To glean is something that not only the poor and needy did.  The rich were expected to leave the ears of grain from the last harvest for the orphans, strangers, and widows.  It was part of the culture to leave some behind for those who desperately needed it.  Not only did Boaz leave what was left from the last harvest, he told his men to leave some ears of grain from the current harvest for Ruth.

This got me thinking about how the world would be different if we all took care of each other.  How awesome would it be if the body of Christ took care of one another.  If it was normal for us to give of our "blessings" for others to "glean."  This is what God had in mind when he put this story on Samuel's heart to write down in the bible.  If we would just take care of the orphan, widow, and stranger maybe there would not be so many hurting.  If we would just give a little, the ears of grain left over from the last harvest, we could really make a difference in the lives of the least of these.

Ruth and Naomi were desperate.  They were both widows with no one to take care of them.  The care that Boaz showed them not only fulfilled their physical needs, it showed them who God is.  They saw the love of Christ in Boaz's actions.

What a beautiful reminder of how adoption is not just the process of bringing more children into a family.  It is following the call that God has given each adopting family.  It is giving of yourselves to help the least of these.  It is showing the love of Christ to a fallen and sinful world.  It is God using the storms of the process to sculpt his saints into people who look more and more like Him everyday.

It is frustrating, beautiful, heart-wrenching, life-changing, and joyful all at the same time.  I love the place that God has us in and I am so thankful that he cares enough about us to stretch us in the ways that he is.  I found myself praying today that as we draw closer to our referral he would take us out of our comfort zone once again.  We can not wait to see the children that God has hand picked just for us!