Going Back to Square One

A very Happy Valentine's Day to you ! 

Well, if you've been around this week you probably noticed I started a blog series/Bible Study on the Book of Ruth. I have to say I am learning a lot from this book and I pray that as I share the revelation I am receiving as I read, that you will read along with me and share what you've learned also !

So, in the last post I wrote about how our decisions to follow after greener pastures can turn out to not be so green after all. Today I want to share about what we need to do AFTER we make the wrong decision and then realize what a mess we've made.

I'm glad that we serve a God of second chances. I really am. However, I am also fully aware that sometimes, a second chance to do the same thing may not present itself again. In Naomi's case, she had lost both her husband and her two sons. There really is no going back on that. They were dead and gone and she could not have them back.


Have you ever thought to yourself "if only I could turn back the hands of time, I would/would not do XYZ"? The reason we use "if" in those circumstances is because there is really no "turning back the hands of time". Once it's gone, it's gone.

Naomi did not have a chance to get her family back. But she saw another door and was about to take it. Let's check out Ruth 1:6-7 

When she heard in Moab that the Lord had come to the aid of his people by providing food for them, Naomi and her daughters-in-law prepared to return home from there. With her two daughters-in-law she left the place where she had been living and set out on the road that would take them back to the land of Judah. (NIV)

Naomi made the decision to go back. It seems simple enough right ? If things have not worked out in the place where we thought we would make it , we should go back. Right ? In my limited life experience I realize that it is not easy for many folks to go back. And usually this stems out of two things : pride and fear.

We are usually too afraid and/or proud to go back because many of us are scared of the looks, the jeers, the whispers and the gossip that will accompany our returning. The "I told you so" and "It serves her right" comments. Who likes those anyway ? ! Nobody does. But one of the things I am learning as I read about Naomi is that, sometimes we simply have to count our losses, consider that there are things we are never getting back no matter how much we cry, kick and scream and move back to where God wants us to be.

And my soft mantra is "WHO REALLY CARES WHAT OTHER PEOPLE THINK ?!" Think about what God wants and how you can get back in His will, not what other people who have frailties like you and me think ! Who are we serving anyway ?

Maybe you are the person who has to go back and make amends with that brother, sister or parent who hurt you many years ago (probably it was both of your faults). You have to make the decision to go back and mend those broken bridges. 

Maybe you are the person who has wasted most of their life never really settling down and finding a purpose. Yes, you've lost time. But perhaps, it's time for you to go back to school or something so that you can move on to the next level of your life. 

Maybe you think your marriage is nowhere near repair. Perhaps it's time to go back to the basics and learn what made you fall in love with your spouse in the first place.

This is what I learned from reading this two verses (Ruth 1:6-7) : it takes humility and guts to go back. And sometimes going back is the BEST decision you can make...EVER.

You are loved !