The modern worship song many of us know, based on the line from Ruth 1, is about following where God leads. To be sure, that is an important idea to think about, how willing we are to follow where the Holy Spirit leads us. Sometimes, it's through the valleys and other times it's beside the still waters.
But Ruth has something else in mind. In fact, Ruth would not have thought about following God the way we do.
When Ruth makes her vow to Naomi, she is doing more than offering companionship. Listen again: Your people will be my people, and your God my God. She is stepping into Naomi's grief and letting it shape her own life. Ruth doesn't try to fix Naomi's pain, explain it away, or lighten it with easy, awkward words. Instead, she does something more powerful. She shares it.
Think about the beauty of that kind of faithfulness toward another person. Scripture speaks of bearing one another's burdens, but this is a vivid illustration of it lived out. Naomi has lost her husband and both her sons. Her world has collapsed. Orpah, her other daughter-in-law, understandably returns home. No one would blame Ruth if she did, too. But she chooses the road of shared sorrow, shared struggle, and shared hope. This wasn't anything strategic on her part. It was relational, brave, and costly.
That makes me think that we often underestimate the sacredness of our presence. Sometimes, the greatest gift we can give is not answers, solutions, or spiritual clichés. It's ourselves, and a willingness to say, "I don't know how this ends up, but I'm not going anywhere."
Our culture prefers to move quickly past discomfort. Ruth's story teaches us the holy work of staying even if it is uncomfortable or inconvenient. 
Our faith teaches that Christ bears our burdens, and then invites us to do the same for others. When we walk with someone in their times of need, we become an echo of his faithful love. Ruth reminds us that healing often begins with shared steps.
Stay blessed...john | 
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