Ruth 2:2 · World English Bible
Ruth the Moabitess said to Naomi, “Let me now go to the field, and glean among the ears of grain after him in whose sight I find favor.” She said to her, “Go, my daughter.”
Work aimed at another person's hunger moves grief out of a body faster than any amount of waiting. A decision made before the feelings have settled is the only kind available to someone who has just buried a husband, and moving the body is what changes the state rather than waiting for the state to permit movement.
From the Self-Help reading below.
The same verse, read by one tradition.
SELF-HELP
Work aimed at another person's hunger moves grief out of a body faster than any amount of waiting.
A decision made before the feelings have settled is the only kind available to someone who has just buried a husband, and moving the body is what changes the state rather than waiting for the state to permit movement. Hunger belonging to somebody else makes a better reason to get up than hunger of one's own, because it cannot be argued with or postponed.
Gleaning sits at the bottom of that whole economy, and taking the lowest rung on purpose is growth where standing still would be decay. Attention fixed on an old woman's next meal has none left over for counting what was lost in Moab. The widow who never goes out keeps her grief at full weight indefinitely.
Self-Help lens
Whose real need could get me out of my own head today?
Chop wood, carry water. When the heart is heavy, the hands are the way through, not the mind.
Act because the work in front of you needs doing, not because you feel ready, since no one ever reached readiness by waiting for it.
In a place where no one else is lifting the load, be the one who lifts it, and do not look for a higher task than the one at hand.
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Self-Help