Time and Space

Read Ruth 2:1-13*

When you reap your harvest in your field and forget a sheaf in the field, you shall not go back to get it; it shall be left. . . . When you gather the grapes of your vineyard, do not glean what is left; it shall be for the alien, the orphan, and the widow.
-Deuteronomy 24:1921 (NRSV)

WHEN Ruth and Naomi found themselves widowed, homeless, and hungry, they survived by gleaning in the fields of Boaz. Showing the compassion instructed in Deuteronomy, Boaz left some grain in his field. He welcomed gleaners, saying, "The Lord be with you."

What does this passage tell me about generosity, about leaving something for those in need? I don't have a field or a vineyard, but I do have a calendar. Can I learn to leave time to help those who need food or shelter or some other gift of compassion that I can offer?

Leaving time unscheduled frees me from worry about where I need to be next. Leaving time free allows me to be interrupted if a friend needs someone to listen or if a neighbor needs a meal. Leaving space in my schedule gives me time to slow down and think of others, to think of God's grace given for me and of the ways I can offer that grace to another.

by Amy Fryar Kennedy (Michigan, USA)