ACE #420: The Audacity to Move On

au·dac·i·ty

ôˈdasədē/

noun

1   the willingness to take bold risks

The biggest misconception people have is that they believe that your life can’t go on without them.  They convince themselves that they are so integral to your day to day existence that you just can’t possibly consider surviving and thriving without their presence in your life.  (Or perhaps you think somebody else can't exist without you). 

I have heard the story of Naomi and her daughters-in-law, Ruth and Orpah, many times.  People always give Orpah the side eye because she chose to leave Naomi and Ruth.  Other people think that Ruth was more faithful to Naomi than Orpah.  I can hear some people say, “Aw, that’s cold. She left that old lady.” Well, the truth be told, Ruth or Orpah really had no obligation to Naomi; they just made different choices concerning her.  If you read the text closely, it was not an easy choice for Orpah. The Scripture said she wept aloud…more than once.

In reality, Orpah just had the audacity to move on - even though it was painful.  She likely recognized that her role as a daughter-in-law truly ended after the death of her husband.  So, she returned to her homeland.  Perhaps she had the opportunity to get married again and possibly to have children.  Moving on for her might have just been the beginning of a new story for her. (Some historical interpretations even say so). I can’t begin to imagine what effort it would have taken Naomi to get both of those young ladies new husbands.

So, today, I challenge you to have the audacity to move on – from unhealthy relationships, broken friendships, unproductive jobs, bad habits and other dead – or dry bone – situations that cause you to weep and yield nothing fruitful in your life. Maybe it is just time to kiss something or someone goodbye…but it certainly takes audacity.  

Ruth 1

⁸ Then Naomi said to her two daughters-in-law, “Go back, each of you, to your mother’s home. May the Lord show you kindness, as you have shown kindness to your dead husbands and to me. ⁹ May the Lord grant that each of you will find rest in the home of another husband.”

Then she kissed them goodbye and they wept aloud ¹⁰ and said to her, “We will go back with you to your people.”

¹¹ 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?12 Return home, my daughters; I am too old to have another husband. Even if I thought there was still hope for me—even if I had a husband tonight and then gave birth to sons— ¹³ would you wait until they grew up? Would you remain unmarried for them? No, my daughters. It is more bitter for me than for you, because the Lord’s hand has turned against me!”

¹⁴ At this they wept aloud again. Then Orpah kissed her mother-in-law goodbye, but Ruth clung to her.