Did you ever want to be part of a re-enactment group or perhaps merely fly back through time to sample another era gone by? One of our favorite pastimes when we were little was pulling out our bin of hats and shawls and dressing up. There was also the time when every Sunday afternoon we would put on a full-blown play of a favorite tale from the Bible, complete with witty ad libs and tear-jerking humor. Recently, we had a tiny taste of those days again when Susanna, Julianna and Carolyn dressed up in Biblical era garb to pose for one of Lydia’s reference photography projects.
The setting was the story of Ruth. The scene: Naomi’s return to the land of Israel. There is Naomi, empty, widowed and poor, crumbling under the burden of her sorrow. There are her two daughters-in-law, also widowed, also sad. Orpah turns away, torn by the inner conflict of leaving her mother-in-law and the sensible plan to return to her native land. Ruth looks up, heartbroken, yet lifting her eyes to God in simple trust and faith.
And of course, there is always that moment when the youngest brother decides to photo bomb the picture!
After waiting for a sunset that fizzled, the team decided to head for home and supper. They were halfway there when the sun popped out from between the clouds and dazzled them with the glowy orange light they needed for their shoot. Dad turned up a side road and crested a hill next to an overgrown farm field where Naomi, Orpah and Ruth hopped out and dropped into their poses by the side of the road, the half plowed ground sloping away behind them.
“And Ruth said, Intreat me not to leave thee, or to return from following after thee: for whither thou goest, I will go; and where thou lodgest, I will lodge: thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God” (Ruth 1:16)