What's in a Name?

The name for this blog came as a flash of inspiration.  When I was born, my parents named me Hazel Ruth.  For some reason, perhaps because I was born in the forties in my grandmother's home in rural Georgia, my middle name was never recorded on my birth certificate.  I didn't learn about this omission until I was in my thirties and saw a copy of my birth certificate for the first time.  I could have dropped my middle name then, but I decided to keep it because it held special meaning even though I considered it to be old fashioned and outdated. 


In the First African Methodist Episcopal church I attended in in the little steel town of Steubenville, Ohio, my Sunday School teachers taught me about the Book of Ruth, which tells the story of Ruth and Naomi.  Naomi was married to Elimelich and they bore two sons, Chilion and Mahlon. Ruth married one of Naomi's sons.  When Naomi lost her husband and both sons, her daughters in law, Ruth and Orpah mourned with her.  Husbandless, childless, and poverty-stricken, Naomi decided to return to Bethlehem to live near her people and tells Orpah and Ruth to return to their families.  That is when Ruth utters those timeless words, "Whither though goest, I go.  Whither thou lodgest, I will lodge. Thy people shall be my people; thy God my God."

Ruth found truth in her love for and loyalty to Naomi. The wisdom of her decision is borne out when she goes to the corn fields of Boaz, one of Elimelich's relatives, to glean corn.  When Naomi hears that Boaz finds favor in Ruth, Naomi directs her to go rest at his feet.  When Boaz awakens and finds Ruth sleeping at his feet, he falls in love with her and later, marries her.  Ruth is, thereby, able to provide not only for herself but for Naomi.

I don't know if I was named after the Biblical Ruth, but I've spent my whole life searching for Truth. Why was I born? What is my purpose? Who created the universe? Is there a God? My quest for Truth has always been deeply personal and shared with only my closest friends.  But now in my harvest season, I feel a need to share some of what I've learned. 

Don't get me wrong.  I don't claim to be a genius, a priest, a philosopher, a psychologist.  A teacher and poet perhaps, but nothing more.  In fact, the more I learn the less I know.  On my journey I've discovered some basic truths that are found in almost every religion.  These truths I am happy to share.  Take of them what you wish.  Discard the rest.  For in the end, every woman must find her own Truth.