From the desk of Grace Lange,
Have you heard the story of Mary and Martha before?
If you haven’t… here it is:
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. 39 She had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet listening to what he said. 40 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!”
41 “Martha, Martha,” the Lord answered, “you are worried and upset about many things, 42 but few things are needed—or indeed only one.[a] Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.” – Luke 10:38-42
As you can see in this story, Martha is a giver and a hard worker…
She first opened up her home to Jesus, and then she proceeded to clean, cook, and prepare the home for their guest.
I am sure she wanted everything to be perfect and presentable for him…
I mean who wouldn’t?!
But then there is her sister, Mary.
Mary was not concerned with preparing the home for the Lord…
She was only concerned with sitting at the feet of Jesus and hearing what he had to say. She was curious, open, un-anxious, and unhurried… a few qualities that are hard to come by.
In the world we live in today, many of us strive to be just like Martha. We want to work as hard as we can, serve those around us, and never take time to rest.
Many of us fall into this “grind culture”, because that’s what a boss lady does… We work hard and get shit done.
But what about the relationships in your life and spending time working on those?
Let me give you a real time scenario…
Picture this… You are heading into the office on a Thursday morning in March. It’s a little chilly out, but people are starting to get the spring time jitters.
You walk into your office, sit down at your desk, open your computer, check your email…
And BAM – Your day instantly got crazy, as your boss asked you for a project today that you thought you had another week to get done, two of your team members are out sick for the day..
…And your husband just called and said he can’t get the kids at daycare tonight, so you have to leave work an hour early…
Oh and you forgot your lunch…
Despite the trouble, you get right to work. The day goes fairly smoothly, and you are almost done with the project when you get a knock on your door.
It’s your intern.
“Oh great”, you think to yourself… “What now?”
You ask them what they need and try to dismiss them as soon as you can, because you have work to do, but they start talking to you anyway.
You continue to work while they talk, and all of a sudden they say to you, “Are you even listening to me?”
Your stomach drops and you realize that this intern is just looking for some advice and a shoulder to lean on…
You then remember the best advice someone had given you, and that is…
Relationships are ALWAYS more important than the tasks.
You apologize to the intern, close your computer and listen to every word they say, as if it were Jesus sitting before you.
The moral of the story:
We all have a lot to do, and to each of us, our tasks seem as though they are the most urgent and the most important.
In reality, nothing is more important than the people who are around you. That task will be there tomorrow, but that person may not.
When Martha was focusing on all of the things she had to get done, she wasn’t focusing on the most important task of all…
Getting to know Jesus.
In our fast paced world, we are missing core relationships, simply because we don’t take the time to have them and work on them.
So the next time someone comes and interrupts you or shows up at your doorstep, invite them in, sit with them, listen to them, and remember that that is the most productive, loving thing you could ever do.
If you are looking for a space to build lifelong relationships with others who love Jesus and coffee, join us on July 29th for Breakfast & Bibles!!