Rev. Ray and Pat Amos
Ruth 2:15-16
DEVOTION FOR TODAY, February 15, 2020
“Let Ruth gather from among the sheaves and don’t reprimand her. Even pull out some stalks for her from the bundles and leave them for her to pick up, and don’t rebuke her.”
Many of us have benefited from gleaning. Do you remember when people grew more than they needed in their garden, and then gave a lot of it away? ”Hand me down” clothes were a way of life that kept many of us dressed. I could not begin to recount all the kindnesses that Pat and I have gleaned over the years from people who have shared some of their life with us.
There was a time when everything didn’t have to match, and houses where decorated and furnished with a collage of things gleaned from others? Many things in the house came from family and friends. Each piece of furniture or “knickknack” had a story that made it unique. Just being in the house was like living in a storybook of chapters written from times past.
We can’t realize all the bits and pieces of Christian living that we received from others who left a little inspiration, faith, and a lot of love for us to pick up. Each piece helped form who we are as Christians. The words from John Donne’s poem remind us that we live and die a shared life where we receive and give much. “No man is an island entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main…I am involved in mankind.”
What are we leaving for others to glean along the way? Someone has said that we are blessed so that we can be a blessing. I think that our Lord would agree with that. “To whom much is given, much is required.” I hope that those who follow us can offer future generations some kindness, goodness, and even a bit of wisdom, that they picked up in our fields.
“If I can do my duty as a Christian ought,
If I can bring back beauty to a world up wrought,
If I can spread love’s message that the Master taught,
Then my living shall not be in vain!”
Grace and Peace, Rev Ray
“Link to YouTube Video – If I Can Help Somebody”
