“Whither Thou Goest…” (for Katie and Curtis)

Would that our speech was still

so full of color, but then

we might also be stuck with

such a worldview and

barbaric treatment for

classes and peoples deemed lower;

not that the flora of the language

has direct impact on behavior or,

for that matter, that we’re completely

(if at all) immune from such

provincial thought and behavior now.

It is a promise of the highest order,

spoken in the midst of a strange redeeming,

where land and mouths to feed

seem to be of greater import than

emotions and relationships.

Ruth, the outsider of outsiders,

Moabite that she is,

throws ethnicity to the wind

and pledges her troth to a mother-in-law

who is as good as dead.

It is really the pledge of all

who abandon self for the sake of God;

home and kin, vocation and comfort,

all tossed into the whirlwind

of God’s tempestuous travel plans.

Who knows how many times

it has been used to caulk wedding vows,

betrothed cleaving themselves one to another?

I do not claim to understand

the mystery of enduring matrimony,

but it does seem to me that when

both partners are willing to live

(not just speak) “Whither thou goest…”

first to God and then to each other,

the grace not only of longevity

but also of joy is within their reach.

Ruth 1:16 (KJV)

¹And Ruth said, Intreat me not to leave thee, or to return from following after thee: for whither thou goest, I will go; and where thou lodgest, I will lodge: thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God.

© 2011 Todd Jenkins