My Wagon, His Star
Pixabay “Hitch your wagon to a star” they say. The expression means to: try to succeed by forming a relationship with someone who is already successful. From a very human perspective, Ruth picked the wrong “star” if she intended to be successful. Her husband was dead. Her mother-in-law was a widow without prospects, bitter and alone, heading back to a situation that was less than promising. Naomi encouraged both of her daughters-in-law to hitch their stars to a more-or-less sure thing—stay in Moab and find new husbands who could care for them and give them children. But Ruth chose to hitch herself to a fading star. Ruth 1:16 gives us her words on the subject: “ Don’t urge me to leave you or to turn back from you. Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God ”. These words are sometimes used as a new bride’s response to her husband-to-be during wedding ceremonies. However, to my knowledge, they are never addressed to her m...