Have you ever failed to fulfil a commitment and disappointed someone? I know I have. Over time, I lost confidence in my promises and stopped making them. As someone who values integrity, it was challenging to come to terms with this, but I realized that I needed to address my inner conflicts to restore trust in myself and others. In addition, my internal struggles were affecting my external interactions, and I knew I needed to work on resolving them.
Recently, I experienced disappointment due to unfulfilled promises. Two individuals, a married couple, separately, invited me for coffee, but neither kept their word. I needed to forgive them and process my emotions while acknowledging my historical lack of integrity. It is painful to fall short of the expectations set by God. I feel discouraged when I let God down by failing to uphold honesty and integrity in my dealings with others.
The book of Ruth is a bright light that reminds us what God sees as elegance, character, commitment, and follow-through. Naomi’s sons and husband die, leaving her and her two daughters-in-law in a challenging situation. After prompting her daughters-in-law to go to their own people, one does, but Ruth shows a stunning character of commitment that we all can learn from.
I love my relationship with Messiah King Jesus. Somehow, God has a way of using what is happening in my life to prepare my soul (heart and mind) to teach me. This blog is the lesson. Interestingly, Sunday was Mother’s Day in South Africa, and my church’s Senior Pastor spoke about the importance of honouring our mothers (and fathers), as this commandment has a clause, ‘so that it may go well with you.’ I had the opportunity today to honour a lady in my church for a belated Mother’s Day. In so doing, I explained that I would write this blog about Ruth and her startling commitment to following through on her promises. As the day dragged on, I procrastinated due to Johannesburg’s winter weather.
While reflecting on these God-incidences, I couldn’t help but observe a crucial lesson on follow-through staring right at me. It flawlessly corresponds with the raison d’être of this blog.
Ruth’s promise to her mother-in-law soon catches wind in town…
One of the lessons from therapy when dealing with my lack of integrity was that I lived in an imagined reality. An imagined reality is typified with statements such as, ‘It shouldn’t be like this,” or, “If only…” We live in imagined realities as a mechanism of avoiding facing truths in our lives. We put on masks, personas, and live “lifestyles” that project who we want to be rather than face the ugly truth that we are not as terrific as we would like others to believe. Then, to defend our pseudo-identity, we act all offended and defensive to prevent others from getting close enough to notice our myriad of character defects.
Ruth, however, shows us what true humility, in reality, looks like. She doesn’t pretend not to be a foreigner or in a dire situation but does her duty to meet her promises to her mother-in-law, which shows us such elegance of character. Something we need so much more of in our world. Upon instruction, her mother-in-law, Naomi, Ruth, follows a submission custom as she begs for care from Boaz.
How many individuals can relinquish their pride and reputation to fully surrender themselves and embrace humility?
It couldn’t have been fun being a foreigner in Israel, as the culture of the day frowned on foreigners as unclean, and being a widowed woman was a burden. Dr Marty Nemko, PhD, ‘Psychology Today’, lists some tactics to help us follow through, just as Ruth did. He states, “Get comfortable being uncomfortable. Successful people realize that not everything will be pleasurable but worth the short-term discomfort in exchange for the larger long-term gain.”- https://www.psychologytoday.com/za/blog/how-to-do-life/201407/7-ways-to-make-yourself-follow-through
The value of commitment, no matter how awful the circumstances, is beautifully shown at the end of Ruth’s story, where she and Naomi are brought into dignity within the day’s culture.
Ruth refused to stop caring, and God honoured her, not only with a protected future but she is remembered within the lineage of Messiah King Jesus. So perhaps a lesson we all might want to rethink if we have negated our duty of being honourable people.
The lessons about ‘follow-through’ presented below are primarily aimed at parenting, but they can also inspire us to occasionally take charge of our procrastination tendencies.
IN A WORLD FILLED WITH FAUX IDENTITIES, LET’S BE A RUTH!!!
#Hayibo 