They wept aloud and said to her, “We will go back with you to your people.” But Naomi said, “Return home, my daughters. Why would you come with me? Am I going to have any more sons, who could become your husbands? Ruth 1:10-11

The gifts we remember most are often the ones that were given at great personal cost. Perhaps when you were small, you received a Christmas gift that left you openmouthed. Yes, it was what you wanted but you wondered how in the world your parents afforded it. You knew they didn’t have the money for it. You understood that they moved heaven and earth to put that gift under the tree. A memory such as that stands out over a lifetime.

Naomi understood that kind of love. She urged her daughters-in-law to return to their homeland, to start over, to find happiness again — though it meant she would walk home alone, through miles of wilderness, back to a life stripped bare. Her offer wasn’t sentimental; it was sacrificial. And that’s why they wept. They saw the cost in her eyes.

Oftentimes, God asks me to give up something precious so another can thrive. The sacrifice hurts profoundly. When I first consider the gift, there might be a sick feeling, knowing what it will require. I wonder if I can actually do it, the cost is so staggering. I usually teeter on the edge of indecision for a while, until courage and faith take over.

Then there are other times when the request doesn’t even come from God directly, but from a person. They ask something costly of me — perhaps undeservedly so. Everything in me recoils. They haven’t earned this. This isn’t fair. I should always stop and pray. God may be asking me to make such a sacrifice ‘as unto Him.’ It is for my benefit, allowing me to taste of Christ’s journey on earth when He gave outrageously to the undeserving.

Jesus, I’m out of my comfort zone. In fact, I’m squirming. But, I’m willing to follow Naomi’s lead. Amen