"Mary...was listening to the Lord's word, seated at his feet. But Martha was distracted with all her preparations; and she came up to Him, and said, "Lord, do You not care that my sister has left me to do all the serving alone? Then tell her to help me." Luke 10:39-40
My first instinct in the rare quiet moments of my life is to try to play catch up. Catch up on reading, email, the state of my home. Today, however, rather than tackling the chaos that is currently my living environment, I obeyed the Holy Spirit's pull on my heart to attend to the much more important "task" of reading God's word and communicating with Him. Which made today's devotions all the more poignant.
Choosing to abide in the Lord is just that. A choice. With so many things pulling on my time, I need to recognize that there is no more important thing than to carve out time in the day for reconnecting with and solely focusing on the Lord and His will for me. God is showing me that I do, indeed, have moments in my day for Him, if I will simply choose them. Cynthia Heald, the author of my current devotional, writes these words about Martha:
"[Jesus responds to Martha (in Luke 10)] by encouraging her to realize that she can lay aside her tense preoccupation with tasks. He gives her the freedom to be concerned only with what is best, with what is eternal."
Oh how I can relate to these words! "Preoccupation with tasks" - yes! I am the ultimate task-master! I only feel accomplishment if I am crossing things off my list. Emphasis on MY. But how much more full and satisfied and at peace I have felt when instead I have put my emphasis on the Lord's word rather than my own lately.
"Like Martha, we are called to change our center of attention from ourselves to Jesus."
I am ready to do this. Fulfilling my own wishes, needs, desires every moment of the day has given me no satisfaction. Spending time with the Lord and discovering how HE wants me to spend my day has reaped infinitely greater blessings in even the SHORT amount of time I have been choosing it.
"Fellowship with [the Lord] is a matter of priorities. A matter of choice. It's the better part of the meal life has to offer. It is, in fact, the main course." - Ken Gire
2 comments:
I needed to read this today. Thank you for your honesty. I am so Martha. Why is it that crossing things off MY list feels so good? You are right...there isn't anything more important in the day then craving out time for Him and focusing on His will for me. Off to read!
It is so true! I find that if I spend some time on devotions- the things I don't accomplish in the day just don't seem as important. It's like it puts it all into perspective and makes me value my walk with God and my time with my kids more than the pile of laundry or dishes...
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