Inspired by “Don’t Ask Me To Give up this Dream” from “Twelve Women of the Chalice” Cd set, music by Sue K. Riley and lyrics by Leddy Hammock:
With my back to the past, I let everything go.
I am leaving behind me the life I have known,
In this meadow of memories, nothing can grow.
I am leaving the life I have known.
There are those who will say it is safer to stay
Where the voices around me all call me by name.
But, I’ll follow the longing that leads me away
From the voices that call me by name.
Don’t ask me to give up this dream.
Wherever it takes me, I’ll go.
No matter how hopeless this journey may seem,
Don’t ask me to give up this dream.
I will gather my good from the seeds of the past,
My blessing will come by the work of my hands.
From the heat of the day to the sunset at last,
I’ll be blessed by the work of my hands.
Don’t ask me to give up this dream.
Responsive Reading for July 17
The three widows, Naomi “and her two daughters-in-law left the place where they had been living….” Naomi said to them, “May the LORD be kind to you as you were to the departed and to me! May the LORD grant each of you a husband and a home in which you will find rest.’ She kissed them good-by, but they wept with loud sobs…. Orpah kissed her mother-in-law good-by, but Ruth stayed with her” (Ruth 1:7-14).
With my back to the past, I let everything go.
I am leaving behind me the life I have known,
In this meadow of memories, nothing can grow.
I am leaving the life I have known.
“Do not ask me to abandon or forsake you! For wherever you go I will go, wherever you lodge I will lodge, your people shall be my people, and your God my God” (Ruth 1:16).
There are those who will say it is safer to stay
Where the voices around me all call me by name.
But, I’ll follow the longing that leads me away
From the voices that call me by name.
Speaking to Ruth, “Boaz answered, …’You have left … the land of your birth, and have come to a people whom you did not know previously. May the LORD reward what you have done! May you receive a full reward from the LORD, the God of Israel, under whose wings you have come for refuge” (Ruth 2:11-12).
Don’t ask me to give up this dream.
Wherever it takes me, I’ll go.
No matter how hopeless this journey may seem,
Don’t ask me to give up this dream.
“Then the women said to Naomi, ‘Blessed is the LORD who has not failed to provide you today with an heir! … And the neighbor women gave him his name at the news that a grandson had been born to Naomi. They called him Obed. He was the father of Jesse, the father of David” [the forefather of Jesus of Nazareth] (Ruth 4:14-17).
I will gather my good from the seeds of the past,
My blessing will come by the work of my hands.
From the heat of the day to the sunset at last,
I’ll be blessed by the work of my hands.
Don’t ask me to give up this dream.