I’ve always been a Martha…
You know the Martha that swept the floor, baked a cake and set the table complete with place cards all at the same time…and got a bit crabby at a certain floor dweller.
Despite dreams of living a cloistered life as a young girl, I have not often been characterized as a Mary.
The last few years, I have wanted to be Mary…needed and longed to be Mary…wanting to rise above what I perceived as urgent to run and linger at what is vital…life giving…life changing…eternal…to sit at His feet and allow all the cares of this world to cease to matter…no longer existing in His presence.
My beloved parents came to visit for a quick overnight stay..and I slipped into the familiar…I am not sure I even blinked…I became the Helen that swept, vacuumed, dusted, rearranged and fluffing pillows all at the same time…until I fell into my bed exhausted…not before being a bit crabby.
There was a flash…a moment…where I whispered to myself…how did you get to this place…again…and I did lay some tasks aside…but not everything…
I also became the Helen that did not get up the next morning to meet with her Savior…the Helen that needed a nap when the all too soon goodbyes came.
Would my parents’ love for me diminish if they tripped over toy cars and laundry as they crossed my threshold…I can confidently say no…in fact, they would probably start folding and find the nearest toy box.
Does my Heavenly Father’s love and affection for me rise and fall on the basis of how presentable my house is? No…I believe He would much rather me to present my heart…my mind…my life to Him…
The people in my life need more of me and less of the stuff that I think makes me worthy to be loved…Jesus needs just me…as easily as I can type that and know it to be true…my ingrained beliefs seem to outscream the truth.
Today I surrender the comfort of the familiar to embrace the new frontier of abandonment to Jesus. I am so weary of me…weary of my attempts to be proven acceptable…today I choose to believe what He says instead…Jesus loved Mary and Martha both…there may always be a bit of Martha in me but I want Mary to reside in me as well…balance…sweet balance.
Martha…you have helped me get a lot of things done…but Mary…help me to be undone…
“As they continued their travel, Jesus entered a village. A woman by the name of Martha welcomed him and made him feel quite at home. She had a sister, Mary, who sat before the Master, hanging on every word he said. But Martha was pulled away by all she had to do in the kitchen. Later, she stepped in, interrupting them. “Master, don’t you care that my sister has abandoned the kitchen to me? Tell her to lend me a hand.”
The Master said, “Martha, dear Martha, you’re fussing far too much and getting yourself worked up over nothing. One thing only is essential, and Mary has chosen it—it’s the main course, and won’t be taken from her.”
Luke 10: 38-42 (MSG)
“So here’s what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You’ll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you.”
Romans 12: 1-2 (MSG)
