I'm a Mary wanna-be...
My Heavenly Father tried to woo me away from the laundry today while it was quiet. He wanted me to spend time with Him. I hate doing laundry! It should have been a no-brainer. But, alas, I promised to "do it later when-all-the-laundry-was-neatly-folded-and-put-away"...
Fail. I never got back to Him.
He put some friends on my heart as I checked email...I prayed, but not with my whole attention. My mind was making a list of poetry terms...
Fail.
As I sat in the quiet of the schoolroom, my thoughts spiraled around and through the events of the day... I had (several times) heard my Savior calling me, and had pushed Him aside.
Epic Fail.
Humbled, I turned to the story of Mary and Martha in Luke 10: 38 - 42. (You can read it here.) The text could have read, "But Kristi was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made..."
Jesus was right there, he wanted my attention today...but I allowed my focus to shift to the "preparations" instead of my Savior.
So, right now, I'm just a Mary wanna-be.
But I'm trying. I will get better. There are no other priorities above my relationship with Jesus. I just have to live that way...every moment...even when there's laundry to be folded.
The next time He calls me away, I hope to lay everything aside and be in His presence.
Maybe sometime soon I'll be able to say...
"Kristi has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her."
What are you doing to banish your Martha nature?
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8 comments:
I have found at many times that I am one or the other. I'm in a Martha season right now, but before that it was a Mary season. I am striving so hard to find the balance between the two! One thing I am encouraged by is that GOD HIMSELF made me in HIS image and He created me as a doer ... but at times "He makes me lie down in green pastures and leads me beside still waters" so that I can have that time to sit and be nurtured by Him when I most need Him. He has made us all uniquely like Himself, and He created as well as rested.
Lisa, Thank you for your comment!
Kristi
Great post. I think that we all (especially me) need to ask him to remove the root that makes us a Martha and not just be a Martha striving to be a really good Mary.:) Dropping by from BlogFrog to comment and follow. Hope you'll do the same. www.rebeccalynndunning.blogspot.com. Have a great day
Rebecca,
There is such wisdom in your comment..."not just be a Martha striving to be a really good Mary..."
Thank you for sharing!
Kristi
I go to mass every day and pray afterwards in the adoration Chapel. Obviously I'm Catholic, and when I go to confession, EVERY time I go to confession, I have to say that a lot of times during mass I am distracted and my mind wanders! I asked the priest if I should just stop going to mass because when i do, I sin because i am not fully participating. He said that it is not because of me that I get special grace from the Eucharist. In our day to day life, we will always fall short, but that is why Jesus came and had to die for us! He understands us Marthas!!!
Even in "trying" to do "better," you {like me} are being Martha. We need to cease trying and allowing His Spirit to work through us - to draw us to Himself. May we all "let go" of our Martha ways, and allow the Spirit to guide us into the abundant life of living FROM God rather than living FOR God!
This is so hard. The more I try, the more Martha I am. But the less I try, the more of a loser I feel. Guess I need to listen to God more so I can learn and belive the truth about those feelings -- that they are based on a lie.
My best friend and I have talked about this SO much! The most I've been able to accomplish so far have been baby steps: setting aside time every day for reading scripture and prayer NO MATTER WHAT, and multitasking (praying while folding laundry, for example). I'm a long way from where I need to be, but at least I've started the journey :)
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