I love my mom and dad.

I went from living with them up until I was married, and even then we never lived more than a mile apart from each other. Now I live more than 150 miles away, which isn’t too bad all things considering, but still. Not to mention my mom and I worked at the same school.

And I miss my mom.

This move would have been more difficult if I didn’t love my mother-in-law so much.

I am far from being a woman like Ruth, but this is something she and I have in common.

Ruth loved her mother-in-law, Naomi. After losing her husband and two sons, I would imagine Naomi was at her lowest when she heard the news that God was providing food back home in Bethlehem.

Then she arose with her daughters-in-law to return from the country of Moab, for she had head in the fields of Moab that the Lord had visited His people and given them food. (Ruth 1:6)

There’s nothing within the verse that indicates reluctancy on Naomi’s part. She may have, but it doesn’t show. She had guts and grit.

And this is something both my mom and mother-in-law have (along with many other moms out there).

I grew up watching my mom go after her dreams, knocking down obstacles left and right. I think growing up with four brothers served her well. She’s not shy to stand up for herself and others, and wherever there is a problem, there is a solution. She’ll drop everything to serve others and, not only that, will delegate a team of people to help out. My mom is a born leader.

My mother-in-law is a born nurturer and server. She balances her warm nature with a no-nonsense disposition. Blend Claire Huxtable and Kitty Foreman together, and you get my second mother. She keeps the home immaculate, yet cozy. One minute, I’ll see here folding laundry and then the next harvesting vegetables from her garden while oatmeal cookies are baking in the oven.

Not a day goes by that I’m not thankful for these two women who have shown me the kind of woman I want to be in these different seasons in my life. My mom taught me what it is to be strong and courageous, and (in this new season of my life) my mother-in-law is teaching me what it is to be a matriarch and pioneer woman.

With hope, with desperation, and with grit, Naomi traveled back to her hometown with her daughters-in-law. There came a point when Naomi turned to them and told them to go back their home in Moab.

“Go, return each of you to her mother’s house. May the LORD deal kindly with you, as you have dealt with the dead and with me. The LORD grant that you may find rest, each of you in the house of her husband!” (Ruth 1:8-9)

But they refused to leave her.

And they said to her, “No, we will return with you to your people.”

We are all born into conditions outside of our control, and it seems that Orpah and Ruth wanted to leave their pagan nation behind to stay with Naomi. She must have been an incredible influence on them, being the kind of mother they needed all their lives.

I am blessed to have been born with a wonderful mother, and what a blessing it is to be taken in by a wonderful mother-in-law. I can only pray that I would change a life the same they have changed mine.

Songs & scriptures for times such as these: Mamas (Anne Wilson); One Heartbeat at a Time (Steven Curtis Chapman); Don’t Forget to Remember Me (Carrie Underwood)

Proverbs 22:6 ; Luke 8:21 ; Ezekiel 19:10-11