IN BETHLEHEM IT BEGINS

Ruth 1:!,3-6,14-16,22; Ps 146 Praise the Lord, my soul; Matt 22:34-40

"Do not ask me to abandon or forsake you! For wherever you go, I will go, wherever you lodge I will lodge, your people shall be my people, and your God my God."


Thus Naomi and her daughter in law arrived in Bethlehem.
Now this may seem like an insignificant  moment in history, but then again doesn't every moment start off as insignificant.

Which brings me to Thomas Merton and the following observation he makes,


"Every moment and every event of every man's life on earth plants something in his soul.  For just  as wind carries thousands of winged seeds, so each moment brings with it germs of spiritual vitality that come to rest imperceptibly in the minds and wills of men.  Most of these unnumbered seeds parish and are lost, because men are not prepared to receive them, for such seeds as these cannot spring up anywhere except in the good soil of freedom, spontaneity, and love."


There are no insignificant moments.  Though every moment starts small it leaves a big footprint on the soul.

Ruth's willingness to journey with her mother in law back to Bethlehem, a foreign country to her, was quite a small moment that began a tidal wave of influence.

Her meager refusal to abandon her mother in law in her time of need, this moment of loyalty and devotion to her dead husband's mother begins the foundation that paves way for the coming of King David, the shepherd boy.

Ruth will eventually meet another and will marry and bear a child who shall become the grandfather of David.  Thus begins the reign of the king though hidden and out of sight yet to be discovered through the time and pages of history.

Ruth simply yes to her mother in law began the great unfolding of God's plan for through her great grandson David, God shall reveal his pledge and promise to raise a king whose throne shall never go empty and whose kingdom shall know no end.

In Bethlehem it begins the unfolding of God's plan.

It also begins where we are daily.  Each moment is filled with grandeur of God.  Each moment beckons at us t take notice.  There is no thing as insignificant when God's plan is at sway.