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.