Daily Devotion - Wednesday, June 16

Some Things Just Don't Add Up, Or Do They?

“Where you go I will go, where you stay I will stay.
Your people will be my people and your God my God.”
-Ruth’s words to her mother-in-law, Ruth 1

The old, old story of Ruth and her allegiance to her mother-in-law is a wonderful story about unconditional love. Working can be a job, but I would hope that it is more than that. I would like to believe that we work because we want to help others and to see that the world is a better place (in some small way) because we have done our part. Giving of ourselves, in our work and in our volunteering, can have a deep meaning in our hearts. Frederick Buechner says it this way:

“By all the laws both of logic and simple arithmetic, to give yourself away in love to another (someone/something beyond self) would seem to mean that you end up with less of yourself left than you had to begin with. But the miracle is that just the reverse is true, logic and arithmetic go hang! To live not just for yourself alone, but for something beyond yourself, Is a new way to become fully alive.”

May today be something more than work. May your day be filled with opportunities to give yourself and, in the process of giving, become more fully alive!

Ben Keckler
06.16.10