I am re-reading the book Having a Mary Heart in a Martha World by Joanna Weaver. I read it back in 2002 and loved it! A couple of things really stood out to me this morning and I thought I would share them with y'all...
Weaver is talking about the "one thing" Mary chose...
"The 'one thing' is not found in doing more. It's found by sitting at His feet. Mary sat at His feet... she listened.. she didn't come up with clever responses or a doctrinal thesis. Her gift was availability." "The only requirement for a deeper friendship with God is showing up with a heart open and ready to receive."
How true all that is! And I fall short so often. I am in a hurry... or I am trying to hard to make Scripture speak to me. I have got to learn to sit and listen.... to still my mind... to give Him my attention and soak in all He has to show me. Kari Jobe sings an awesome song called The More I Seek You and in it she sings "I want to sit at Your feet, drink from the cup in Your hand, lean back against You and breathe" That line just grabs my heart every time I hear it and I find myself singing it in prayer to the Lord often these days. (If you want to hear this awesome song go here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U3GijrnfStk )
The question was posed... which woman do you relate to most... Mary or Martha? I have always felt I was a Mary and I think at one time... during a season of my life... I was. But while I am not a perfectionist or a super homemaker or anything like that, I find that I am constantly busy.. even when I am still my brain is running through a list of things I need to do.. so I am definitely relating more with Martha these days. Busyness sees to invade my everything... even my time with God. I just don't seem to be able to let go and really relax... sit at His feet... listen.. BE STILL AND KNOW... the comment was made in this chapter that we will fore go (or postpone) time with God to do the urgent things... we live in a constant state of urgency. But what is more urgent.. more important than time with God? Surely there are times when something needs our immediate attention... like a crying baby or sick child... but often our urgent things aren't really urgent in the grand scheme of things.
Luke 10:40 says "But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made..." I personalized this verse.. But Barbara is distracted by all she has to do.. and the thing I realize is I impose the HAS not God.. I decide what HAS to be done. The thing is I know that if I spend time with Him and let go of my have-to-do list, He will make time and a way for me to get done the things that truly do need to be done. I have seen Him do that, but for some reason I seem to have forgotten that He can!
One more thing.. at the end of v. 42 is says "Mary has chosen what is better and it will not be taken away from her." First... it's a choice whether I spend time with Jesus or not. 2nd.. what intrigues me is the phrase "it will not be taken away"... surely no time spent with Jesus is a waste... no time in the Word or in Prayer is trivial or of no use... but what I wonder is this.... is the reverse true? If Mary's choice will not be taken away from her, will Martha's? Does all the energy and effort of serving come to no true fruition? Surely not all service, but when we serve instead of worshipping... when we choose work over grace.... when we serve because we feel we have to or that no one else will instead of letting some things go and just sitting at His feet and soaking in the time we have with our Savior. I think that time of service ends up being lost to us... we can never get back that moment.. that opportunity to be with Jesus. BUT PTL we are given more chances.. we can stop at any moment and say Lord, Speak to me... and He will. We just have to be available and have an open and expectant heart!
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