Full Reward

Ruth 2:11-12  [11] [Boaz said to Ruth:] “All that you have done for your mother-in-law since the death of your husband has been fully told me, and how you left your father and mother and your native land and came to a people that you did not know before.  [12] May the LORD reward you for your deeds, and may you have a full reward from the LORD, the God of Israel, under whose wings you have come for refuge!”

REWARD!I am struck by the blessing of reward in this text.When do we tend to offer rewards?For a lost dog.For information we need.Something that is precious to us that is now gone.  Yes, something lost that needs to be found.  And we don't know where it is, so we post signs, REWARD!  But if we happen to find it ourselves, do we give ourselves the reward?  Or even more out there, does someone else give us a reward for finding what we lost?  How about finding something we never knew we had?The other thing that strikes me about the blessing of reward is that there is reward, and there is full reward.  There seems to be some distinction between the two, as if a double blessing.  Be blessed with the reward from God and may this reward make you full,complete, whole.  May the piece missing in you be completed.  Perhaps this is the true refuge we seek in God:  the blessing of wholeness, completeness, fullness that results from a blessing of reward.May I be the first to give you a blessing of reward today.  May you be blessed with glimpses of God as you seek refuge in God today.  And, may this blessing be a full reward so that you may feel a moment of wholeness within you.[For those following the Ruth study, I did not post this earlier by mistake.  So this is a bit out of order, sorry.]