With A Sister Like Ruth

Today I was thinking about what it is to be blessed.  Some people would look at the list of good stuff going for me and think I’m lucky.  A loving, loyal and devoted wife, three beautiful, healthy and intelligent girls, a roof over my head, a fair-paying job using the best of my skills, modern luxuries reflecting a middle-class status, even being able to blog is a privilege not offered to a lot of people.  Some people look at that and say that I’m lucky.  Some people cannot get around the concept that his is not a luck thing, or something reflecting my effort and hard work but is just one of many evidences of grace.  Proof in itself that not only is there a God, but He exists and acts in the affairs of those whom He loves.

That’s not just something that applies to everything that looks positive in my life.  I have been blessed with what others might term as misfortunes.  Things have appeared to go horribly wrong for me, only for me to realise that these things happen and God is still in control and is as much in these events as in the wife, children, house, job and money.  If I don’t see God in these things (that’s not the same as having an explanation, rationalisation or even feeling good about the events) then the God I serve is one reserved for pleasant feelings and ‘good times’ as defined by me and isn’t God of all at all.

This approach to God as one in the good and bad has especially been modelled for me in the life of my sister who celebrates her birthday today.  Ruth doesn’t get the credit from me she deserves and perhaps there is no amount of good will material or otherwise that will ever measure to that credit that she deserves.  So I don’t bother trying to get things back or make things equal I only seek to make the most of what opportunity there is to express gratitude for her.

I don’t think a lot of people understand my sister, but I don’t think that’s a problem for her.  Those who need to understand her do so and they know her to be a loyal, honest, committed and devoted friend who is not afraid of speaking the truth she sees even if it doesn’t win her any friends.  I get the impression that the Drydens can be an awkward and weird breed, never fitting in the stereotypical conventional approach to life.  Ruth’s path of life has definitely borne that out in spite of being fairly conventional and conformist in some areas of life.  She remains enough of an enigma to not fit into people’s boxes and expectations of her and I love that.

I will always treasure my sister for the years of friendship and protective care she has given me over the years.  I appreciate her frank manner in letting me know when I foul up and yet her consistent manner in which she will defend what is right to the hilt even at her own personal cost.  I only have one mother and that will never change, yet Ruth has already has established herself as the nerve centre of the family especially in terms of connecting with the wider family and knowing what’s going on.  Her inimitable way of keeping in touch and diplomatically maintaining links was the key that opened up the door to David and I having some sort of credibility in circles far wider than the ones I came across.

I know if it wasn’t for my sister I’d have never been forced out of my shell and into engaging with the wider world around me.  If it wasn’t for my sister I would never have been able to face to some horrible truths about me.  Things are different between Ruth and I as must needs be with the change of family dynamics as she tends to her children and I endeavour to love my own.  Yet in the list of blessings that I made at the beginning, one crucial one that has influenced me over so many years, is being so grateful to God to blessed to live life with a sister like Ruth.

For His Name’s Sake

Shalom

dmcd