You’re such a Mary. I wish I could be more like that,
sitting at the feet of Jesus, listening for what He has to say. I’m always just
so busy. I have to be serving. I
love doing for others. I wash my floors every day, do you? I just need to have
a clean house. I don’t ever seem to have enough hours for just sitting and spending time with Jesus.
Something like that – with the special emphasis on the sitting. Generally, when people say
things like this to me I think, I would
like to see inside your medicine cabinet.
But it’s true that I do spend a lot of time thinking. It is also true that I don’t
get terribly worked up about dirty
laundry. I like a little advance
notice before people come to my door. I need a lot of closets. I feel a lot
of empathy for Martha.
I am sure that if Jesus, and maybe some of his friends,
dropped in at my house unexpectedly for coffee and conversation, I would look a
lot like I was worried. I would make myself very
busy shoving things behind doors, and muttering words like, Where is my broom?,
and There is toilet paper on my stairs!, and Who shoved Christmas oranges into the air
vent? I know I would. I would probably think frantically about how I should
clear a spot on the counter, and quickly wash my big, green Tupperware bowl,
and maybe try to mix up a box of Duncan Hines brownies. I would probably say rude,
completely unnecessary words inside my head like, CRAP. Jesus is in my living room, and I am out of oil – OF ALL THINGS. I
might wish I had washed my hair and that I had done all of this before. I might go a little Martha.
Perhaps – and I don’t know this for sure – but perhaps Mary
was just a little more organized. Maybe she didn’t get so easily distracted in
her day to day with things like finding great quotes about forgiveness, and observing how changing light affects the colour on
a paint chip, and looking for a sharp pencil. It is possible that she just wasn’t
the type to shove things into closets for later.
Maybe she got up early every morning and washed her hair and her floors, made
her bed, emptied her trash, glossed her lips and drove to Safeway – so that
when Jesus came to her house she was the ready
virgin with oil and brownies, and something hearty and nutritious to pack
along with him for the road.
It is possible. I think the important thing to remember is
that Jesus loved them both. Also, that clean floors really do make for less distraction
if you plan on sitting at His feet.
3 comments:
I love the way you think, You're concise and to the point. I am not and so for me it's easier to be a Martha because there I know what I am doing. For me, being a Mary would be too hard, I am not in touch with my emotions/feelings and have a hard time in expressing them so that they make sense and I suspect I am not alone.
Keep at it, I enjoy reading your blogs.
You are definitely not alone. I have a hard time expressing my feelings, too. God just wants us to be who He formed us to be, and to use the gifts He gave us.
Loved this!
Post a Comment