Ruth [Ruth]

To begin the series, I wanted to start with one of my favorite stories in the Bible: Ruth!  

The Story:

Ok, so Ruth is a pretty average girl in her town in Moab, and this new cute guy, moves to town.  Well, the cute new guy sorta likes Ruth, and she sorta likes him back, even though he's not a Moabite himself, but then they get married.  Ruth is pretty much welcomed into their family, along with Orpah, who married her brother in-law.  She seems to get along pretty well with Naomi her mother in-law.  Their happily ever after is cut short, however, when both of the sons die.  

Naomi, now a widowed, child-less woman, decides to move back home.  Orpah and Ruth both  decide to go with her, because she's their family.  But Naomi tells them they're young. They have time to go back to their family, get new husbands, and continue with their lives.  Orpah tearfully leaves, but Ruth refuses, saying she will stick by Naomi's side.  

When they get Bethlehem, Naomi's home, Ruth decides she's going to do what she can to provide for the both of them.  She gleans in the fields of a man named Boaz, who takes a liking to her.  Gleaning, she goes behind the harvesters and picks up the left-overs with other women of the town.  Boaz asks around, and when he learns Ruth's story, he convinces his workers to leave extra grain for her.  

Naomi learns about it, and thinks Boaz would be a good match for Ruth.  She orchestrates it so that Ruth follows the right steps so that he can be her "kinsman redeemer " a Jewish law/tradition that basically allowed for a widowed, childless woman a way to continue the family line and not suffer the way widows did in the society.  

Long story short, Ruth and Boaz get married, live happily ever after, and have a son named Obed.  He has a son named Jesse, who in turn has a son named David.  That's right, good ole Ruth becomes the great-grandmother of King David, one of the most celebrated kings of Israel.  


Sorting Hat:

Ruth, you are loyal to Naomi, and you worked hard in the fields.  Your patience with God's plan has put your story into the Bible, but the Sorting Hat places you in...

HUFFLEPUFF!

Rationale: 

Those placed in the Hufflepuff house value loyalty, hard work, and acceptance.  Ruth clearly displays all three of these traits in her story.  

When Naomi begins to venture off to her homeland, both Orpah and Ruth follow.  But Naomi tells the two of them they should go back to their families.  Orpah goes back, which is completely acceptable and understandable.  But Ruth shows intense loyalty by saying she would rather go to a place she's never been, with people she doesn't know, than to abandon Naomi and leave her all alone.  

Once in Israel, Ruth proves her dedication to working hard for herself and her mother-in-law.  She does one of the only jobs available to women, gleaning.  She goes behind the workers of the field and picks up the leftovers.  It is hard, tiresome labor.  Especially in the sun, with all of the layers that women wore at the time.  But that was the only way she could respectably provide for herself and Naomi.  So she grit her teeth and got to work.  

One thing that has always amazed me about Ruth is her willingness to adopt, accept, and embrace the people.  She moves away from her homeland and begins to adopt all of the usual  customs and traditions of the people.  Even in trusting Naomi with the idea of going to Boaz as the kinsman-redeemer, which was probably something she wasn't used to.  She completely accepted the people, and was in turn commended by the people around her as being better than "seven sons".  

~*~*~

To me, Ruth is a Hufflepuff.  She's courageous, smart, and I suppose a bit cunning as well, but her loyalty and willingness to get to work make her a Hufflepuff in my mind.  

What do you think? Do you agree with me, or do you think the hat would've placed her in another house?  Let me know!

Biblical Sorting, A [Sporadic] Series.

Truth time:  I am obsessed with Harry Potter. And as such, I mentally sort the people I meet into the four Hogwarts houses.  

This also translates into my quiet times, when I read about biblical characters in the bible.  And I know a blog a lot of heavy, deep things.  So I figured sharing some of my mental sortings would be entertaining for you to read and me to write.  

So, every so often, I will post my "evaluations" on here, under the tag "sorting" and the heading "Biblical Sorting: Insert Name Here [Insert bible passage they're found here]"  

I'll give a short summary, in my own words so it will be fun, of the person's story in the bible, and then I'll give my rational as to what house they would be in.  Fun, right?  I promise, I'll make these rather light-hearted and try to make them fun to read.

And I would love to hear what you all think of each person too!  This is the time to use the comments to let me know what you think!  Who knows, if your rationale is good enough, I might even retract my previous statement and go with a different house!  

Well, until then, have a wonderful day!  

Looking Around.

There are a lot of sayings telling us were to look.  Look at your past to see who you've become.  Look ahead to see where you want to go.  Look where you are, and live in the present.  Look up to see the possibilities.  Look down to know where you're going.  Look inside yourself to see who you are.  

It's hard to know where to look.  

Sometimes, I just wish that I could go around life with my eyes closed. When everything is going out of control and I just can't seem to make sense of it all.  

That's how I felt the last few weeks.  Last week of classes. Exams. Moving back home. Getting ready to work for Deep Impact.  It's all been a lot.  And I've almost felt like I've just wanted to close my eyes and breathe.  Letting the world rush past me, feeling everything moving, but not moving myself.  

It seems nicer that way.  Let everything else keep going and leave me behind.  

But that is not what I am called to.  

I am called to be here, to fulfill my purpose on this earth as designed for me by my wonderful, loving, amazingly beautiful Lord.  He has a plan for me, and if I'm here, it's because He still has purpose for me.  I'm meant to be here. I'm meant to do something, not just let everything happen around me.  

My past is there to shape me like clay into the vessel God needs.  My future is dictated by the one who holds my life.  I am here for a specific purpose that I am fully equipped to handle.  God is above me, guiding me towards everything I need.  I know I am walking on solid ground, because I have put my faith in my Savior, who is a firm foundation.

And when I look inside myself, I see a child of God, a wonderful creation that has been made new for him.  The orphan He saw in the muck and filth of her sin and somehow decided she was worth everything to Him.  Whom He plucked out of the dirt and cleaned in His sacrifice, making her a beautiful princess, heir to His victory and Kingdom.  

So I won't go through life with my eyes closed, no matter how much I want to.  I will go through life looking around, seeing the fingerprint of God everywhere I go.