You look at your list, sticky notes, calendar, planner – or whatever you use to organize your life. All you see staring back at you is a never-ending list of things to do.
Homework. Projects. Music, dance or sports practice. The week’s shift schedule. The dish you’re supposed to make for your Bible study fellowship.
Your heart rate increases just looking at everything on your plate.
There simply isn’t time for it all.
This must have been how Martha felt. There she was, trying to prepare a delicious meal for her Lord, and she just couldn’t get everything done in time. There was the chicken (probably still alive) to prepare, the potatoes to peel, the vegetables to clean, and oh my, what about dessert?
She was frantic. She needed help. So she sought out Jesus.
She went to the right Person, but she asked for the wrong thing.
Martha saw her sister Mary listening in on Jesus’ conversation, probably with her brother Lazarus, and she wanted Him to tell Mary to get up and help her.
What she really needed to do was join her sister at the feet of Jesus, just be still and listen to Him speak. This was clear in His response to her.
“Martha, Martha, you are worried and troubled about many things.” (Luke 10:41, NKJV)
Martha probably thought, “No kidding, Lord! There’s too much work to do, and no one seems to care I’m doing this on my own.”
Therein lay the problem. When we try to do life on our own without God, we burn out and miss out on His blessings.
I tend to be like Martha. Some days, my to-do list feels a mile long. Something’s worrying me. My eyes focus too hard on life’s troubles, and I try too much to solve them myself.
“But one thing is needed.” (Luke 10:42a)
That one thing is exactly what Martha overlooked and what those of us like her often miss. Instead of joining Mary at the feet of Jesus to listen and learn, we try to solve our problems on our own.
I’d like to think Martha didn’t march back to the kitchen in a huff but in humility, owned her mistake, let the chicken live another day, announced dinner would be make-your-own peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, and then sat down next to Mary.
Recently, that’s what I had to do (minus the chicken). I left my disaster of a desk in my room, grabbed my Bible and journal, and found a quiet place on my couch, and just had some God and I time.
When I eventually returned to my room, I wasn’t as stressed. The work was still there, but I had my priorities right: God, first and everything else, second.
The moral of this post: If the chicken has you stressed, just make PB&J and take time to listen to God.
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