Martha, Martha...
As a way to reflect on the following Sunday's Gospel, I'm going to start to post more often on the Gospel. When I looked up this Sunday's Gospel reading, I was pleased to see it's the reading about Mary and Martha. It's a wonderfully challenging yet simple Gospel.
Luke 10:38-42
Jesus entered a village
where a woman whose name was Martha welcomed him.
She had a sister named Mary
who sat beside the Lord at his feet listening to him speak.
Martha, burdened with much serving, came to him and said,
"Lord, do you not care
that my sister has left me by myself to do the serving?
Tell her to help me."
The Lord said to her in reply,
"Martha, Martha, you are anxious and worried about many things.
There is need of only one thing.
Mary has chosen the better part
and it will not be taken from her."
"Martha, Martha, you are anxious and worried about many things." Is this not rampant throughout our society? So many of us are anxious and worried about many things. So many of us are so busy running around doing things, all while thinking about everything else we have yet to do. Constant multitasking - isn't that the work of us women and mothers? Such work needs to be done, but it cannot be the focus of our lives. This life is not about getting stuff done or about being anxious and worried about other things, about what may or may not happen at any point. How many times has Christ said, "Do not be afraid"?
"There is need of only one thing." To sit at His feet, to know Him, to trust Him. Why do we have such difficulty with this? Do we not have a deep desire to know Him more deeply?
Two things I am reflecting on today are our physical busyness, constantly doing something, and the busyness of our brains. It's easy to notice how physically busy we are and how few times we actually sit down to rest in prayer. But what about mental busyness? Do you find that once you do sit down to pray, or while you're in Church, your mind wanders to this or that? To what you have to do, to what your son or daughter just did or will do later that day, to what the person in front of you is wearing or what the little boy three pews in front is doing? It is so difficult to sit with Jesus and listen to Him. We don't know how to stop.
I had read a couple articles in which the internet, for one thing, contributes to this. With all the information quickly available to us, and with how easily we can check email while chatting with someone on facebook, shopping for deals on new shirts, and reading the news, all while thinking about what our next blog post will be, of course our brains are working on overdrive and are being conditioned to do more of that, resulting in our having difficulty slowing down.
I had also been reading an interesting book, Simplicity Parenting, by Kim John Payne, in which, among other things, Payne talks about children becoming overwhelmed by too many toys which offer too many choices, too many activities, complicated schedules, and TV, computers, and other "screens." He offers story after story in which parents have simplified the above and have seen dramatic improvements in their children's behavior. Children can become easily overwhelmed, anxious, and worried about things. And then we want them to develop a relationship with our Lord, and we want them to settle down a bit and behave. Such "too much" is completely antagonistic to our children developing a prayer life.
But what do we do? Our world is now build around cell phones and the internet. Andy and I are "behind the times" for not having reception to our TV and not having a blackberry or other similar device. I would love to simplify completely, but where do we start? And how far do we go? And what do we do with all this stuff?
"Mary has chosen the better part, and it will not be taken from her." No, He will not take it from us, but how many times do we take the opportunity from ourselves?
Lord, please help me to slow down and sit at your feet. Help me to know you and trust you with all things, to feel less anxious about all things. Amen
Luke 10:38-42
Jesus entered a village
where a woman whose name was Martha welcomed him.
She had a sister named Mary
who sat beside the Lord at his feet listening to him speak.
Martha, burdened with much serving, came to him and said,
"Lord, do you not care
that my sister has left me by myself to do the serving?
Tell her to help me."
The Lord said to her in reply,
"Martha, Martha, you are anxious and worried about many things.
There is need of only one thing.
Mary has chosen the better part
and it will not be taken from her."
"Martha, Martha, you are anxious and worried about many things." Is this not rampant throughout our society? So many of us are anxious and worried about many things. So many of us are so busy running around doing things, all while thinking about everything else we have yet to do. Constant multitasking - isn't that the work of us women and mothers? Such work needs to be done, but it cannot be the focus of our lives. This life is not about getting stuff done or about being anxious and worried about other things, about what may or may not happen at any point. How many times has Christ said, "Do not be afraid"?
"There is need of only one thing." To sit at His feet, to know Him, to trust Him. Why do we have such difficulty with this? Do we not have a deep desire to know Him more deeply?
Two things I am reflecting on today are our physical busyness, constantly doing something, and the busyness of our brains. It's easy to notice how physically busy we are and how few times we actually sit down to rest in prayer. But what about mental busyness? Do you find that once you do sit down to pray, or while you're in Church, your mind wanders to this or that? To what you have to do, to what your son or daughter just did or will do later that day, to what the person in front of you is wearing or what the little boy three pews in front is doing? It is so difficult to sit with Jesus and listen to Him. We don't know how to stop.
I had read a couple articles in which the internet, for one thing, contributes to this. With all the information quickly available to us, and with how easily we can check email while chatting with someone on facebook, shopping for deals on new shirts, and reading the news, all while thinking about what our next blog post will be, of course our brains are working on overdrive and are being conditioned to do more of that, resulting in our having difficulty slowing down.
I had also been reading an interesting book, Simplicity Parenting, by Kim John Payne, in which, among other things, Payne talks about children becoming overwhelmed by too many toys which offer too many choices, too many activities, complicated schedules, and TV, computers, and other "screens." He offers story after story in which parents have simplified the above and have seen dramatic improvements in their children's behavior. Children can become easily overwhelmed, anxious, and worried about things. And then we want them to develop a relationship with our Lord, and we want them to settle down a bit and behave. Such "too much" is completely antagonistic to our children developing a prayer life.
But what do we do? Our world is now build around cell phones and the internet. Andy and I are "behind the times" for not having reception to our TV and not having a blackberry or other similar device. I would love to simplify completely, but where do we start? And how far do we go? And what do we do with all this stuff?
"Mary has chosen the better part, and it will not be taken from her." No, He will not take it from us, but how many times do we take the opportunity from ourselves?
Lord, please help me to slow down and sit at your feet. Help me to know you and trust you with all things, to feel less anxious about all things. Amen
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