Keep Your Opinion To Yourself...Especially If Its Gonna Cause Drama

Ruth 1:14-16 -  At this they wept aloud again. Then Orpah kissed her mother-in-law goodbye, but Ruth clung to her. “Look,” said Naomi, “your sister-in-law is going back to her people and her gods. Go back with her.” 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 my God.

As I reread the beginning of one of my favorite stories in the Bible…my heart stopped on these verses. The world around me is falling apart…because people have forgotten that God allows free choice.  The new …45^th president has some real opposition.  Some women feel like it’s time to protest and march for what they believe. Some people even believe they have the right to smash up buildings while they shout what they believe.  It is a reminder of the truth ...that no matter what I think…someone else has an opposing view. Do people really believe that if they scream their opinion loud enough that everyone will magically switch to the other side?

I like the example that these three women set for us. All three have different thoughts.  Orpah wants to go home.  Ruth wants to stay with Naomi.  Naomi wants Ruth to go home with Orpah. And in the end…they all keep their opinions…except maybe Naomi. I think she really cherishes Ruth’s decision to stay with her. There is no shouting in each other’s faces….no drama…just a calm speech deep from Ruth’s heart that asks Naomi to stop asking her to leave.

I needed the reminder NOT to jump on the drama wagon and add my two cents worth….unless God gives me a calm heartfelt statement of fact that someone I love may need to hear. I needed these three women to remind me that it’s okay to feel differently as long as we don’t force ourselves on each other. I would love to see perfect peace and unity in the next few seconds…but my heart knows that the only way that will happen is for Jesus to arrive on the scene for his second coming.

Father…thank you for the example of these lovely ladies…who model for me the way to peacefully state our choices about life here on earth.  Forgive me for the times that I have let my opinions pour forth with no filter…..creating more drama than was there in the first place. Help me to always pour my feelings out to you  first…so you can give me peace and wisdom to know if they are thoughts that others might need. Amen.