Ruth’s mother-in-law Naomi said to her, “…Boaz…will be winnowing barley on the threshing floor. ³ Wash, put on perfume, and get dressed in your best clothes. Then go down to the threshing floor, but don’t let him know you are there until he has finished eating and drinking. ⁴ When he lies down, note the place where he is lying. Then go and uncover his feet and lie down. He will tell you what to do.” ⁵ “I will do whatever you say,” Ruth answered. 
                                                                                   -Ruth 3:1-5
 
Some of us have the gift of helping other people know exactly what it is that they should go and do. We prefer to call it wisdom and insight, sometimes the people around us call it “bossy.”
 
Naomi is looking for a husband for Ruth. She knows that Boaz is in the family line and has some responsibility in the culture to care for her. So she gives Ruth some instructions—instructions that will put Ruth in a potentially vulnerable situation.
 
We find out later that women weren’t supposed to be on the threshing floor.  If you were Ruth, you might have said, “How about YOU go get all gussied up and traipse onto the threshing floor and let’s see how it goes with you!”
 
But instead, Ruth rolls with it. “I will do whatever you say.”
 
Sometimes the next wise decision requires a risk.  Sometimes the next wise decision requires you putting yourself in a vulnerable position, going against cultural expectations.  And for some of us, our naturally low risk-tolerance works against us taking steps of faith that might change not only our own lives but perhaps many other people’s lives as well.
 
This crazy scheme of Naomi’s is going to put Ruth in a potentially difficult situation.  But in the end (spoiler alert!) this step of courage is going to seal the happily-ever-after fate of Ruth, Naomi, and the line of kings that will reign over Israel for several hundred years.
 
What’s your risk tolerance? How does that risk tolerance shape what you’ve been willing or not willing to do at key moments in your life that required a step of courageous action? Spend just a beat asking God to give you the courage to take the next appropriate risk, whether that’s today or five years from now.