Volume 2

20. Are You Mary or Martha?

Today, I pray we choose to be a Mary and not a Martha. Meaning, don't get so caught up in what you're doing and everything you have to do that you forget to spend time with Christ.

Luke 10:38-42
At the Home of Martha and Mary
38 As Jesus and his disciples were on their way, he came to a village where a woman named Martha opened her home to him.
She had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord's feet listening to what he said.
But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made. She came to him and asked, "Lord, don't you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!"
"Martha, Martha," the Lord answered, "you are worried and upset about many things, but few things are needed—or indeed only one. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her."

Martha was over there trying to get everything ready for Jesus, clean the house and make Him food (From scratch y'all, no food processors or Walmart back then), and it reminds me of us trying to do all these things in our busy lives and getting distracted.
We are always planning for vacation Bible school and spending our time here and our resources there... and we are doing so many things for other people but are we spending time with God ourselves? We're gonna burnout if we neglect our own souls.

Real life example. I wake up at 0330, I clean the house for an hour and study/do homework for two hours. I get the baby up and out the door by 0645. I go to school for several hours and the moment I get out of school at 1630/430PM I am busy cleaning my house and making food and getting everything ready for church, spending several hours at church or volunteering my time....
and by time I get into my bed at night at 2300(11 at night) I have not spent one moment alone with God, even though I had spent four hours at the church helping others. Fast forward through several weeks of this, it's not pretty.

I wasn't just tired physically, I was tired in my soul. So much so that I was always exhausted and was progressively becoming crankier and more tired. I became less effective in my work and had more problems trying to focus. I needed refreshing. I'm sure we all do it! We get so distracted DOING things, being a Martha, that we forget to stop and talk to God and be a Mary.

Did it matter that I was teaching my baby to pray every day and was going to church and running the sound booth or kitchen? No.

I needed to get alone with God.

We need to spend time with God and get that time of refreshing. There's nothing we could ever do as an act of service that will be more beneficial to our walk with Christ and our ministry than to be a Mary. When we are a Mary we will learn the most and be the most beneficial to others.

Jeremiah 31:25
For I will satisfy the weary soul, and every languishing soul I will replenish.

Take time today to examine your schedule. Is it so busy that you can barely care for yourself? Is it so busy that you neglect spending time with God yourself?
Take time today to examine your heart, is it weary? Cranky? Are you exhausted and constantly searching for rest and refreshing?

Try to take time for yourself. Find 10 or 20 minutes somewhere to just sit there and thank God for everything that is good, for giving you the ability to stay so busy. Thank Him for abundance. Ask Him to guide you and give you direction, refreshing and strength. Ask Him to guide you on the right path every day through all your busyness and opportunity. Ask Him to help you become more of a Mary and less of a Martha. You'll be shocked at how your life will change when you do.