Where are the Boazes?

I am reluctant to write about this subject because it might appear self-serving. But what the heck.

I was inquiring of one Mexican Christian friend about a mutual friend in the same city of Mérida, a young widow and mother of two. "Do you think she'll remarry?" I asked. "Oh no," he said. "No one would marry her; she has young children."

There's something wrong with that sentence. It should read: "Of course someone will remarry her; she has young children!" This is precisely the time the woman could use a partner, and her children a father.

Ruth the Moabitess was bolder than the lady in Mérida. She knew she needed help, and at the prodding of her even bolder, matchmaking mother-in-law, she "proposed" to the wealthy and kindly Boaz at his threshing floor in the middle of the night. Boaz was interested but first had to make sure that the man who was legally next in line did not want to take up his levirate duty and marry the widow of his relative. That turned out to be easy. The fellow was interested in the real estate he stood to gain from the marriage, but not the widow who went along with it.

There is a man in our local church who took on a single parent plus her five children. There must be a special reward in heaven for that.