Influence

I have raised three boys. They are young men now but I think that they will always be ‘my boys’. In that is one of my great fears. I realize that the potential exists that one day I will be someone’s mother-in-law!

There are horror stories about that. You’ve heard them. You may have lived them. There are precious stories too. Sadly, those aren’t repeated nearly as often.

It has taken up some of my thinking time though. What kind of a mother-in-law would I be?

There is an amazing story of a mother-in-law in the Bible. Naomi – of Ruth and Naomi fame…she must have been an extraordinary mother-in-law…an extraordinary woman of influence!

Might I suggest you read her story if you don’t know it. It is in the Book of Ruth. There’s that oft quoted line – “…your people will be my people and your God my God…” Powerful words really!

Ruth wasn’t Jewish. She had married into Naomi’s family, married one of her two sons. In my family, she would have been lovingly called “an import.”

There comes a point in the story when Naomi prepares to head back home – back to Bethlehem – and Ruth and Orpah are prepared to go with her. Naomi tries to discourage them, to send them back. Ruth won’t be deterred.

Naomi had been through some valleys. Having moved to Moab with her husband and two sons years earlier, she was now returning home “empty”. (Ruth 1:21)

She had had more than her share of sorrow. Bitterness threatened to take root but still she must have shown Ruth something…some glimmer of hope…of salvation…of a relationship with her God…

When Orpah decided to turn back, Naomi urged Ruth to do the same, saying that Orpah had gone back “ to her people and her gods.” (Ruth 1:15)

This is where Ruth makes her declaration. She did not want the gods of Moab. She did not want the gods of the family who had raised her. She wanted Naomi’s God!

There are so many amazing things in this story and it gets even more amazing as it continues to unfold but today this thought is challenging me deeply: What is my influence?

Would those who are closest to me, those who watch me walk through my valleys, be stirred to seek my God?

Naomi was heading out on a journey. Ruth longed to join her on that journey, knowing that she truly had nowhere else to turn…knowing that her gods had nothing for her.

Who is in your circle of influence? Make no mistake, intentionally or not, we do influence those around us.

What then is your influence?

It grieves me to think of those that I may have discouraged from joining me on my journey. Have there been Orpahs in my life?

I long to have the influence that Naomi had on Ruth…that because of how I live, what I have done, the words that I have said, that someone will want to join me on the journey…that my God will be their God too…

“In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.” (Matt.5:16)

Ruth