At the Home of Martha and Mary

Luke 10:38-42 New International Version (NIV)

³⁸ As Jesus and his disciples were on their way, he came to a village where a woman named Martha opened her home to him. ³⁹ She had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet listening to what he said.⁴⁰ But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made. She came to him and asked, “Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!”

⁴¹ “Martha, Martha,” the Lord answered, “you are worried and upset about many things, ⁴² but few things are needed—or indeed only one.^[a]Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.”

I want to be the Mary that Jesus is referring to in this story. Sometimes in life we can get so caught up in all we have to do we end up not being present in the people’s lives who mean the most to us. We may see our family and friends often, but are we really present and listening to them? I we really spending quality time with them or are we in the kitchen preparing and cleaning nonstop. As a mother of two children I definitely can always have a list of things to accomplish. I’m currently working at finding balance. I know I can’t just stop cooking and cleaning, but there needs to be a time set in the day that is to just stop what I’m doing and be present. I want to hear the voice of the Lord, I want to be still and know that he is God. I want to have deep friendships and meaningful relationships. I want to dig deeper. I finally am starting to find balance. I want to live my life with a purpose. I don’t want to just survive another day, I want to thrive another day. My name is Mary legitimately. I want to be like the Mary in this story though, far too often I find myself acting like Martha; stressed out, and frazzled hair, not rested, not being present even though I’m still here. I find myself getting so caught up in all that I need to do that I end up not doing the most important things, such as; spending time with Jesus, sharing the love of Jesus, and showing my family and friends that love.

It’s time to stop being like Martha and start acting like Mary. This world has enough Martha’s.