More like Mary (and less like Martha) Luke 10

38Now it came to pass, as they went, that he entered into a certain village: and a certain woman named Martha received him into her house. 39And she had a sister called Mary, which also sat at Jesus’ feet, and heard his word. 40But Martha was cumbered about much serving, and came to him, and said, Lord, dost thou not care that my sister hath left me to serve alone? bid her therefore that she help me.

41And Jesus answered and said unto her, Martha, Martha, thou art careful and troubled about many things:

42But one thing is needful: and Mary hath chosen that good part, which shall not be taken away from her.

Luke 10:38-43

I am so sick of being busy!  I’m so busy I don’t have time to analyze what to do to stop being so busy.  I say I will stop – I say I will change things and then here I find myself.

“ONE thing is needful” – and I am lacking the one thing… to sit at His feet – to bask in His presence – to hang on His words.  Instead I am “troubled about many things”.

Here’s the thing.  I totally get Martha.  I mean it’s not like she’s busy doing nothing.  It’s good stuff – I mean Jesus has to eat right?  Seems like perfectly good stuff.  But not God’s best for her.  In the amplified version they describe Martha as “overly occupied and too busy” – and describe Mary’s choice as “that which is to her advantage”.

I’ve been thinking a lot about the quadrants referred to in the Seven Habits class (which apparently was derived from some of Eisenhower’s thoughts – he is quoted as frequently saying “What is important is seldom urgent and what is urgent is seldom important.”)

Some concrete examples…

  • Quadrant 4 – low importance and low urgency – picture hours of mindless TV watching
  • Quadrant 3 – low importance and high urgency – most incoming phone calls (high urgency because they need to be acted on at that moment, but frequently are things that could have waited – i.e. low importance)
  • Quadrant 1 – (yes I know I’m out of order, but there’s a reason) high importance and high urgency – broken leg need to go to ER
  • Finally, Quadrant 2 – high importance and low urgency – education falls in here… all the “needful” things we never seem to have time for because they have no urgency… only importance.  In Quadrant 2 is where sitting at the Lord’s feet is. Waiting on Him… yep, Quadrant 2.  Quadrant 2 is where things are that are to our advantage.

Yeah.  I don’t want to be “overly occupied and too busy” – I want to choose “that which is to [my] advantage”.  I want to live in Quadrant 2.

I realize you can’t spend 100% of your time there, but going from Quadrants 1 and 3 at high speed only to collapse into Quadrant 4 whenever there’s a free moment… that life (Martha’s life?) keeps us solidly out of Quadrant 2 and out of the things that are “needful” and “to our advantage”.  I don’t want to miss those things.

Lord, this is a simple prayer.  I want to be more like Mary and less like Martha.  Will You show me how?  Help me to know what to say no to – show me how to slow down and prioritize You.  Help me Lord – I’m tired of finding myself in this spot – I want permanent breakthrough… I want the love affair You have planned for us… I don’t want to miss it being too busy or doing other “good” or even mindless things.

Please teach me to sit at Your feet and wait…

3 Replies to “More like Mary (and less like Martha) Luke 10”

  1. Pingback: Dyed4you Blog » Blog Archive » Sabbath

  2. Pingback: Meghan W » Blog Archive » Those Who Love, Wait (1 Cor 2:9, Is 64:4)

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