Skip to main content

To Do or to Be - that is the question...

“Martha, Martha,” The Lord answered, “you are worried and upset about many things, but only one thing is needed.  Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.” Luke 10: 41-2

Keeping up with caring for my kids, cleaning, cooking, volunteering, part time work, friendships, volunteering again, and doing special events with my kids, I race around trying to do everything for everyone.  I usually end up failing miserably.  It is inevitable that I will upset someone some time and make someone upset with me, usually about something small. 

The devil is in the details.  Have you ever got so caught up in something you forgot to enjoy it?  You get caught up in parenting JUST right, so you forget to enjoy the fun and exciting moments.  You get caught up in rules and regulations or doing good works for the church and forget to enjoy what it is really all about. 

Martha had Jesus over- HUGE DEAL!  Can you imagine having Jesus in your home?  I would have been freaking out, cleaning and cooking and making sure everything was perfect.  I am definitely a Martha.  Mary, Martha’s sister, was calmly sitting there, listening and soaking in what Jesus had to say.  She was sitting at his feet.  Finally Martha cries out to the Lord- “Don’t you care?”  “Make her help!!!!”  Jesus replies with the verses above. 

There are two different personality types to look at here.  The Do-er and the Be-er (not beer!) …  the Do-er is about preparations.  They want their life to be perfect before anyone sees them.  They don’t want people to come and see their messy house.  They want everything to be perfect before Christ comes in. The Do-er forgets sometimes to just sit and wait.  Sit and listen to Jesus. 

The other personality type is the Be-er.  The Be-er wants to absorb everything.  They just want to sit and soak it all in.  When Jesus comes to visit, they sit and listen intently. 

The difference between the two is obvious.  But, when Jesus isn’t there at our “house” or Jesus tells us to do something we need to take both types and combine them.  Every day, we need to be listening to what Jesus says.  We need to have a time with him where we aren’t preparing. Where we aren’t getting ready for the day, where we have time to sit at the feet of Jesus.  We then need the time also to take what he says and apply it to our lives.  We need to DO what he says too. 

We need a mixture of the two personality types to ensure that our walk with God is where it needs to be.  If we spent all our time sitting around just listening to Him and not going out and doing what he says, then we will miss out on sharing His message with others.  If we run around DO-ing everything under the sun for Him, but miss out on our time with Him that we have, it is all futile. 

My prayer is that Jesus takes and makes me a good mixture, a cocktail, of the two personality types where I can take time every day to BE with Jesus and listen at His feet, but also take time to Do what He has called me to do. 

Comments

  1. MindyOctober 12, 2011 at 1:17 PM

    I too am a Martha longing for some Mary characteristics in life. Great devotional!

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Center of God's Will

I was very blessed to go over to some new friend’s home last night and talk with them and others about life in general.   As the topic turned solely to missions late in the evening (as this couple used to travel around bringing the good news to kids around the world, and then lived in a different country for 3 years sharing the gospel) I said something like, it must feel amazing to be right in the center of God’s Will.   To have to rely on Him for protection from the most random events; to have to rely on God to take you out of situations that are dangerous; to rely on Him for every provision that you are given; and most importantly, to be brining the message of Christ to all nations under heaven.   Can you imagine?   Knowing that you are supposed to be right where you are, doing what you are doing, right when you are doing it because you have to, and have chosen to, rely on God for every little aspect of your life.   Well friends, I am not out spreading the me...
Post a Comment
Read more

Daily Bread

I have a dog.  He is cute , but he is still a dog.  That means that he is reliant on me.  He likes me no matter what, If I am not around him, he flips out a little and has anxiety.  If others try to claim him or take care of him when I'm not around, he growls and barks at them.  My dog's name is Spike .  He is a Yorkie.  I promised my husband if he got me a girlie dog, I would name it something masculine so he wouldn't have to go outside and yell fru fru when calling our dog.  Spike knows that I take care of him.  He knows that my husband and I are the two that take care of him the most.  The kids try to play with him and he runs to us with the toys.  The kids try to take him out and he only comes back when one of us calls him.  He knows our voice and respects our voice.  He also is needy.  Like he relies on us to take him outside to do his business and to feed him and give him water.  Spike will let us know ...
Post a Comment
Read more

The longest route...

There is no easy way around it, sometimes I take the hardest possible route to get anywhere.   During our re-make of our house, I purchase bar stools.   Our counter island is tall and so I measured t – it was 36 inches from the ground.   Therefore I purchased 29 inch bar stools thinking they would be perfect…   And they would have been had I measured from the ground to the trim that lines the bottom of the 36”.   In reality, I had 29” to play with and the stools that I purchased were tight against the lip under the island.   I put one together and realized my folly.   Looking on-line, I didn’t find any more that were comparable to the price I had paid and the style that I wanted but were only 24” tall.   When my husband came home, we decided to put the other three stools together and just deal with them.   On Sunday morning, before church, my husband took the bar stools outside and proceeded to cut 5” off each leg to make us 24” bar stool...
Post a Comment
Read more