Being a mom is a tough job; in all actuality, being a woman is Hard. Work. Period. It’s so easy to get caught up in the hustle and bustle of all the to-do lists and completely forget our purpose. That’s where I’ve found myself over the last few weeks. As my husband and I have prepared for the birth to my fourth child, I feel like I’ve lost all sense of direction in my life lately. Haven’t you ever felt like that? Lost, confused, dazed, yet still functioning. It’s easy to allow life to overtake us sometimes…and the current busy season of my own life has landed me there, so I decided to take some time and reconnect… and I found a refreshing concept in the midst of doing so.
Mary and Martha were two sisters that knew Jesus. They were such good friends with him, that as he came to town in Luke 10, they invited him to dine with them at Martha’s house. Let’s be real…isn’t it just like us as women to want everything perfect when we have important guests coming over or friends you haven’t seen in years? Of course it is, and that’s exactly what Martha did. She got so busy that she forgot to actually take time to visit with a dear friend she hadn’t seen in quite some time.
Her sister, on the other hand, stopped and “sat” at Jesus’ feet. Mary knew everything she had to do would still be there when he left. In that moment the only thing that mattered was being in that moment with Christ…being there and hearing everything he had to say.
Martha saw Mary sitting there and it infuriated her…here she was working so hard to make everything perfect and her sister was just pausing, resting, taking everything for granted in Martha’s eyes. However, what Mary was doing was taking time to refocus, refresh, and find her purpose again. And when Martha accused Mary of being lazy, Jesus quickly pointed out that Mary had chosen the one that was really necessary in life…she’d paused. Without that pause, everything else so easily becomes a distraction or burden…whether it’s our housework, our job, our homeschool or our children.
So the next time you find yourself so overwhelmed and cumbered or burdened with all life is throwing at you, maybe it’s time to just sit at the Master’s feet and hear a word.
