In 1971, I was born to Don Robert Bundy and Betty Ruth Bundy. They named me Donielle Ruth, after my Dad (Don), and after my mother, whose middle name is Ruth. As a kid, I didn’t like my old-fashioned sounding middle name, but I’ve grown to appreciate its connection to Mom and a grandmother of Jesus– shining women of strong faith.
Ruth was a standout, brave in difficult circumstances, she defied cultural norms. Listen to Ruth’s insistence with her mother-in-law Naomi. “But Ruth replied, “Don’t urge me to leave you or to turn back from you. Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God. 17 Where you die I will die, and there I will be buried. May the Lord deal with me, be it ever so severely, if even death separates you and me.” 18 When Naomi realized that Ruth was determined to go with her, she stopped urging her.”
Ruth had reason to fear. She had lost her husband and was a foreigner; she surely lacked security and confidence about her future. And yet, she seemed to stare her fear down as she made a bold and beautiful promise to her widowed and devastated mother-in-law.
Words are cheap if insincere; if they are not followed up with action. Ruth promised Naomi that she wouldn’t leave her, that she’d always stay with her, even til death. So serious, she invoked the covenant name of Israel’s God—now her God too. Verse 18 says “Naomi realized Ruth was determined”. Her mind was made up.
In Matthew 21, Jesus tells a simple yet profound parable.
There was a man who had two sons. He went to the first and said, ‘Son, go and work today in the vineyard.’“‘I will not,’ he answered, but later he changed his mind and went. “Then the father went to the other son and said the same thing. He answered, ‘I will, sir,’ but he did not go.
“Which of the two did what his father wanted?”
“The first,” they answered.
Jesus said to them, “Truly I tell you, the tax collectors and the prostitutes are entering the kingdom of God ahead of you.
It matters more to God what we do than what we say. Words have power, but talk is cheap if our lives don’t match what we say we believe.
Ruth means what she says and says what she means. Though Ruth’s promise to Naomi is beautifully eloquent, what’s more admirable is that her walk matched her talk. Her character and integrity have been praised for centuries.
Be like Ruth.
Donielle Winter
EFCC Member