The Book of Ruth

Boaz replied, "I've been told all about what you have done...how you left your homeland and came to live with a people you did not know before.  May the Lord repay you for what you have done.  May you be richly rewarded by the Lord, the God of Israel, under whose wings you have come to take refuge." 
Ruth 2:11-12

It has been hard to stop thinking about what Agnes said of her sister, my daughter, Ruth.  "Ruth has a sad heart." 

Ruth is a deep well.  Unlike Agnes and Nathan, she is a mystery that will need to be unfolded.  Her sister and brother opened themselves to me like eager daisies on a sunny morning.  But Ruth was reserved, shy and afraid. 

Here are the only things I know to be true about Ruth:

She was born 12 and a half years ago.
When she was 5, she was run over, leaving her with a damaged foot.
When she was 7, her father died.
When she was 9, she was brought to the orphanage and left by her mother.
She is passionate in her prayer for others.
She is always cold.
She has never tasted chocolate.

When I met Ruth for the first time, she walked to me from the back of her classroom with her head held low. 

I noticed her limp, and could tell that to her it was a great embarrassment.  She looked like she was thinking "This woman will never want me once she sees me."  Then, with some encouragement from the orphanage director, she raised her head to look at me.  And I saw this:

An angel.

But, this smile does not last long.  And there is a sadness beneath it.  Even when she clowns, which is frequently.

Will I ever know all the things that have happended to this child in her short, precious life?  Is there one in particular that makes her so sad, or is it the sum total of all the loss and poverty and bad turns you can squeeze into 12 years?

How will I ever help her to stop being sad?  Can I?  Should I?  I asked the orphanage director, Jalia, how I could help Ruth.  Her response was "When her environment changes, I believe she will gain."  Indeed.

So, all I can do is love her.  A lot.  I am sharing all of this about my Ruth not to violate her privacy in any way, but to ask those of you who are reading this to pray for her.  Pray that the combined love of all our prayers creates a healing balm for her "sad heart".  Pray that one day all her tears will be gone, and she will know love and safety and joy.

"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 will be my God."  Ruth 1:16

You will always be ours, precious Ruth.  We will never leave you.