Acts of Kindness

Welcome to today's encouragement from Our Daily Bread. Our reading titled Acts of Kindness was written by Alison Keita. Months after suffering a miscarriage, Valerie decided to have a garage sale.

Gerald, a neighbor craftsman a few miles away, eagerly bought the baby crib she was selling. While there, his wife talked with Valerie and learned about her loss. After hearing of her situation on the way home, Gerald decided to use the crib to craft a keepsake for Valerie. A week later, he tearfully presented her with a beautiful bench.

There are good people out there, and here's proof, Valerie said. Like Valerie, in the book of Ruth, Ruth and Naomi suffered great loss. Naomi's husband and two sons had died, and now she and her bereft daughter-in-law Ruth had no heirs and no one to provide for them.

That's where Boaz stepped in. When Ruth went to a field to pick up leftover grain, Boaz, the owner, asked about her. When he learned who she was, he was kind to her. Amazed, Ruth asked, Why have I found such favor in your eyes? He replied, I've been told all about what you have done for your mother-in-law since the death of your husband. Boaz later married Ruth and provided for Naomi. Through their marriage, a forefather of David and of Jesus was born. As God used Gerald and Boaz to help transform the grief of another, He can work through us to show kindness and empathy to others in pain. Today's Our Daily Bread devotional scripture reading is from Ruth chapter 2 verses 5 through 12. So Boaz said to Ruth, My daughter, listen to me.

Don't go and glean in another field and don't go away from here. Stay here with the women who work for me. Watch the field where the men are harvesting and follow along after the women. I have told the men not to lay a hand on you.

And whenever you are thirsty, go and get a drink from the water jars the men have filled. At this, she bowed down with her face to the ground. She asked him, Why have I found such favor in your eyes that you notice me, a foreigner? Boaz replied, I've been told all about what you have done for your mother-in-law since the death of your husband, how you left your father and mother and your homeland and came to live with the people you did not know before. May the Lord repay you for what you have done. May you be richly rewarded by the Lord, the God of Israel, under whose wings you have come to take refuge. Let's pray. Dear God, I thank you for sending your son to provide for our greatest need, forgiveness, redemption, and freedom from sin. It's the greatest kindness of all. It's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Thank you for listening today. I'm Rachelle Traub and today's encouragement was provided by Our Daily Bread Ministries.