NAOMI

When my husband brought the idea I opposed strongly. Yes! When he suggested we leave Bethlehem Judah for the country of Moab. I did everything I could to stop him but Elimelech was a hard headed man who rarely listen to people's opinion. A week after I and Elimelech had the heated argument about leaving Bethlehem, we moved out. Out of the place where I was born and bred, out of the place where I had known joy and sorrow. Holding one of my sons Mahlon with one hand, the other hand supporting the load on my head, tears flowed freely from my eyes as I left Bethlehem Judah.

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Some years after we moved to Moab, my husband died. Life without Elimelech was hell, but then I was used to suffering. After their father's death, my sons Mahlo and Chilon married and started serving strange gods; the very thing God warned us against. Here I was in a strange land with my sons serving strange gods. Not long, Mahlon and Chilon died.

I was devastated after the death of all my loved ones. I didn't know what to do. Then I heard that the famine was over in Judah. If only Elimelech had been patient, perhaps I would not have lost him and my sons in a strange land. I gathered what I could of the few things I had acquired in Moab and set out for Judah. I came to Moab a young beautiful woman with my family but here I am leaving an old ugly woman who had lost everything. Of course my grey hair was more of suffering than age.

As I was leaving, my daughters-in-law followed me saying they would go with me. Ruth said "Naomi, you are old, you definitely won't survive on your own, we will come with you". "Never! Young ladies you have a whole life ahead of you, I'll be fine with my people". I replied. I finally convinced Orpah to leave but not Ruth. In fact, Ruth reminds me of Elimelech. So Ruth and I set out for Judah.

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When we got to judah, people could not recognise me. Someone said " is this not Naomi?" "Call me not Naomi" I replied crying "call me Mara because God has dealt bitterly with me". Naomi is an Hebrew name which means pleasant and now my situation was far from pleasant. My husband kinsmen wanted to know all that happened. I told them how I had lost everything in a strange land. They sympathised with me and provided a room for I and Ruth as the house I once lived in with Elimelech was in ruins.

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Ruth married Boaz, one of my husband's kinsmen and she remained a daughter to me. If only Elimelech had listened to me, he probably would still be alive. After all the people we left in Judah did not die of the famine. As I rock my grandson, I can't help feeling sad that Elimelech isn't here to witness this peace.