Be a Mary

   This is one of my favorite stories mainly because it speaks volumes to me in my busy life of being a wife and stay-at-home mother of almost 3 children. This story is found in the Gospel of John, chapter 10, verses 38-42 and it reads as follows:

"Now it happened as they went that He entered a certain village; and a certain woman named Martha welcomed Him into her house. And she had a sister called Mary, who also sat at Jesus’ feet and heard His word. But Martha was distracted with much serving, and she approached Him and said, “Lord, do You not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Therefore tell her to help me." And Jesus answered and said to her, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and troubled about many things. But one thing is needed, and Mary has chosen that good part, which will not be taken away from her.”

Not only can this apply to my life, but to those of you who know what it's like to have a busy life whether it be work related, college related, Church related, so forth and so on. How often do we find ourselves running around doing "stuff" that needs to be done vs taking a moment out of the day to just find a quiet spot and talk to God about how you feel that day? 

Martha and Mary were sisters (and also sisters to Lazarus, whom Jesus raised from the dead). Martha exhibited the role as the elder by the way she always kept herself busy keeping after the home. As you see above, Martha found it annoying that her sister wasn't helping her with the daily chores and complained about it to Jesus. Jesus quickly came back and told Martha that Mary, sitting at His feet listening, was doing what Martha ought to be doing. Why do you think Jesus said that?

Granted, God understands that we have daily responsibilities that are called of us, but He also demands our complete devotion and attention. Remember when God had Moses bring His Hebrew children out of slavery from under Egyptian rule? After the Red Sea closed up, God gave Moses the Ten Commandments for His children to abide from. Here's what was said in the 2nd Commandment:

  

 “You shall not make for yourself a carved image, any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; you shall not bow down to them nor serve them. For I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God..." Genesis 20:4-5a

He wants and demands our complete hearts, not just half of it. Mary was doing what she felt led to do. She wanted to hear what Jesus had to say because her heart was in the right place. She was focused and intrigued by everything He had said and Martha missed the whole point of who Jesus was at that time or else she would have sat down right beside her sister and listened in wonder and amazement. I also believe that after Jesus had told Martha that the best thing for her to do was to sit down and just listen, that a light bulb went off in her head and she realized that He was right and so was her sister for sitting there. 

In my personal situation, I am very busy with my little ones and my husband. I am always the last one to go to bed, I wake up in the middle of the night to change my daughter's diapers, check on my son at least once to make sure he is wrapped up in his bed, make sure my husband is covered up from mid back down to his toes while asleep, wake up bright and early to get my 5 year old off to Kindergarten while getting my 1 year old dressed in the process, come home to fix her breakfast, give her a nap, play with her, clean house while she is hanging on my legs, pick up from son from school, take trash off, shop for groceries, pay bills, budget our money, come home in time to re-clean everything and have a hot dinner ready for the husband when he gets home from work, play some more, give my husband attention, clean up after dinner, put my son to bed by reading 1 secular book and 1 Jesus story, give him his asthma medicine, make sure he brushes his teeth properly and uses the restroom, pray with him, hop on over to my daughter to get her ready for bed, have a quiet time with my husband, (affection usually follows...ha! hey, we are married so it's a blessing and not done in sin :D haha) pray with him before he dozes off, and then comes my time. Whoa! What a long sentence, huh?! Lives can become busy and we often lose focus of what's really important in life, like spending time with God. A lot of the time, during my daughter's nap or at night, I have to put the phone down and put it on silent because I realize that it can become a distraction. Sometimes, I have to place a load of laundry to the side when I feel the Spirit convict my heart to stop what I'm doing and to give that extra 15 minutes to God and guess what? If God tells you to do something, you do it. End of story. Never miss out on the blessings that God has for you when you open His Word and listen to that still small voice. I don't recommend studying through your phone because of the distraction of a text coming through or a phone ringing in. Shut the phone off, dust your ole Bible off, and pray that the Holy Spirit speaks to you and opens your heart, eyes, and ears to what God wants you to know. I promise this to you, when you do that, God will bless you for your obedience. He created you and what better way to show Him that you care, than to give Him your time. 

XOXO