By John O’Malley
“The Lord grant you that ye may find rest, each of you in the house of her husband. Then she kissed them; and they lifted up their voice, and wept” (Ruth 1:9).
The type of ministry with which we as a family are involved, places upon us the necessity of saying goodbye every week to friends. Some of those friends, we will get to see again in a matter of months or even a year. Yet there are others we may not see again. Saying goodbye is not our favorite thing to do; we would rather only say hello.
Naomi, on her journey from Moab, reached a place where she thought that her daughters-in-law should return to their people, culture, gods, and ways. She bid farewell to her daughters-in-law. Her bidding farewell to them brought tears from the eyes and the heart. She kissed them and told them to go home.
The goodbye was sorrow-filled. Naomi wished God’s best for their future as young widows. She bid them farewell and wished God’s best for them to find peace in their hearts and at home. This peace and rest was something that Naomi had not had in a long time. This farewell was sorrowful, but she had days of hellos ahead in Bethlehem-judah.
Reader, you may have to say goodbye to a loved one or a lost one. Those goodbyes are never easy. Yet we know that there will come a day where we will never say goodbye again.There will come a day when we will only say hello!
Think about it...