| NAOMI PRAISES GOD Can you imagine the little stone or mud-brick home in Bethlehem when Ruth arrived home that first night? She had a full bag of grain and an exciting full story to tell. She had threshed out the grain before she left Boaz' field and had carried home almost a bushel of precious barley. Quite a load for a young woman to carry from the field to the house in the village. Naomi was tremendously excited when she heard what Boaz had said and done. She also remembered that Boaz was a close relative and a plan began to work itself out in her mind and heart. She also began to see even dimly that God had not left her desolate but had guided Ruth's feet to that field that day. Naomi cautioned Ruth, 'Make sure you go back to those same fields tomorrow. You may not be so fortunate if you went to someone else's harvest field. Not everyone is as kind as Boaz.' So the days slipped by. How long did the barley harvest last? We are not told but it was followed by the wheat harvest. We know that the barley harvest began around the time of the Passover and after that the wheat harvest which was around Pentecost. About seven weeks separated these two feasts so that would be the approximate time period mentioned in verse 23. In the meantime Ruth lived with Naomi. It would be easy to imagine that in this time, Ruth learned more and more of the worship of the true God, under whose wings she had come to trust. Naomi had obviously been growing again in her faith in God. It is interesting that while she asked the people to call her 'Mara' which means bitterness, she never seems to have been known by that name. Naomi means pleasant or happy and as she grew again in faith, that is what she became once more. Why not sing a verse of 'To God be the glory, Great things he has done'? | 
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