“… let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.” (Hebrews 12:1-2).
Saturday stress. My portion. How about you?
What do…
paying bills,
school shopping,
hosting a birthday party,
staring at a non-functioning blog (thanks sitemeter),
and working on an upcoming Vacation Bible School have in common?
Absolutely nothing from a worldly perspective. But add God into the mix, and the thread weaves clearer.
Temporal things.
I’ve got them. You’ve got them. We are all living and breathing them until we’ve nearly choked to death from their stranglehold.
We have got some pitchin’ and some throwin’ to do if we’re going to press into God’s eternal. There’s a real danger in holding tightly to “things” that were never meant to last. Good things, perhaps. Necessary things, but in the end, things that won’t follow us to our forever.
God knew we would struggle with kingdom focus. That is why he gave us the witness of his Spirit and the power of his Word. Let me stray one day from his presence, and I can almost guarantee a mired perspective. Martha is alive and well in my house this night and looking a great deal like the woman I see in the mirror. Mary? Well, she’s here too. At least her heart is, but her sitting and her seeking have fallen prey to the urgent and the immediate. She doesn’t mean to hide. She simply has succumbed to the pressing necessary.
It is hard to be a Mary in a Martha necessary. Wouldn’t you agree? I was born a Mary, but there are times when I must embrace my Martha and walk my required portion of essential living.
And therein lies the rub.
Essential versus non-essential. Who decides?
Hebrews 12 gives us the answer. The “who” is Jesus. He authored our beginning. He will punctuate our ending, and the life lived between the two chronicles the journey of our perfected faith. Rarely does it read pretty, but always should it read him. He is the essential and should remain our focus despite our propensity for either a Mary seeking or a Martha doing. Everything else is just filler.
My filler has been full to overflow today. As I look over my list of “doing” I don’t think that God is displeased with my choices. I simply believe that he wishes for a little more of my heart in the midst of those choices. To take time…
*to thank him for the provision to pay my bills and to do my children’s school shopping.
*to slow down long enough to enjoy the candles and the cake and the beautiful daughter who was fashioned by his hands in my womb over six years ago.
*to realize that “sitemeter” and “blogging” is sometimes less about him and more about me tracking my ego.
*to relish another VBS occasion when the greatest story on earth and in heaven will take to the stage via my words and my actions.
We will never completely resolve our temporal with our eternal. Not on this side of heaven. There will be a constant tug between our casting off and our pressing on. Between our Martha and our Mary. Between our immediate necessary and our eternal necessary. It is the way of our fleshly now.
But there is coming a then. A joy that exceeds the stress of a Saturday and replaces the chaos of our current. Even as it was set before Jesus, it sits before us…behind us…all around us.
Eternity. The essential, urgent, and necessary pulse of our Father’s heart. One beat after another in perfect cadence with the Creator’s plan.
He is worth our pitchin’ and throwin’ tonight. He is worthy of our run, so let us lace up our shoes, fix our focus, and keep to the path that will lead us home…straight into the arms of the One who authors the perfect ending to a less than perfect journey. I’m so glad he’s the one holding the pen, for he is the only one who can bring peace to my journey, and so I pray…
Write my story, Father, with kingdom perspective. Let not my essential drown out my eternal. Strengthen my frame for the road head. Give me a mind to choose wisely, the feet to run swiftly, and the heart to seek fully the truth and joy set before me. And when I am tempted to mire my focus in the temporal, shatter my vision with the reality of my forever. Help me to let go so that I can take hold. Simply let go and completely take hold. You are the grip of my heart tonight. Amen.
NOW, in the moment, the beginning of our eternal…as He sits in the eternal interceding on our behalf…even in our small things until we meet Him at the East Gate!
May we keep Him in our hearts, in our words, and in our actions as we deal with our busy-ness of today.
Don’t know what to say besides “Amen.” You have described exactly what I’m going through, and have given me JUST the solution I need (though, of course, I already had it – was just not choosing to use it). Blessings to you, Elaine.
I second Skoots “now” reminder. Priorities and choices sometimes get muddled. Sometimes they simply beg that we deal with them. But NOW is such a precious time. It is in seconds or minutes and the making of choices that our tomorrows are crafted. Even in life’s whirlwinds He teaches us how to go out with peace and joy. He makes that our essential. And what wonder there is in it!
Good post! It’s never too late or too soon or too much to keep the Martha in us all calm. Besides, we make our best choices with a Mary mindset.
Kathleen
I, too, struggle with my Martha versus Mary.:) You are not alone, sweet friend.
I wanted to tell you that I just ordered the book you recommended in your last post.
I am so excited to read it.
I can’t tell you how much peace I have now having a name to call this period of my life~ a hidden season.:)
I asked my husband, “I wonder what I will be like when God lets me out of hiding?” 😉
God Bless,
Amy:)
“Tracking my ego”!!! Too funny!
Putting my running shoes back on….
What a great post, Elaine! I know we’re all there right now (especially those of us about to send kids back to school!)
I hope your Sunday is less stressful!
“Ouch” and “Thanks” for the “tracking the ego” comment. That was quite an eye-opener for this Martha.
By the way, my baby girl will be 19 tomorrow – looks like our girls have birthdays at the same time!
Love to you this night,
Melinda
Thanks so much for your encouragement!! I love visiting your blog. It’s always a good read!
This is exactly what I’ve been faced with these last days. I could not agree with you more – again, as always, you’ve penned these words with such beauty and purpose I am left stilled in His presence.
This is one that I will be bookmarking and re-reading again and again.
He is our good for us all! Being dependent on Him to get us through living!
katiegfromtennessee
Elaine….you will never know just how much I needed to read this post TODAY! All the juggling of “things”…..even things that are good and Christ-honoring such as keeping house, taking care of hubby, volunteer work, and church work…..has really gotten me down lately. I have just hastily read your post today so will have to come back tonight and really peruse it! Thanks for giving me so much to think about!
God bless you my Friend!
Marilyn in MS
Amen! Beautiful as always!
I’m with you in this Mary and Martha battle. And with school starting soon, I’m in the Martha zone. Trying to remember the Mary in me enought to pause in the chaos to thank Him and worship Him in the daily grind.
He is worthy of all my affection.
And I relate to the “tracking my ego” statement. Sometimes I take a break from blogging just to get my heart right with Him again. It’s easy to get sidetracked here.
Thanks for stopping during this busy time to encourage readers like me.
Hugs!
Tiffany
wifeforthejourney:
Only the Lord can help us make since of the different twists and turns of our day. Would that I were as skilled as you at noticing God at work in “the details.” Thanks for shining a light on how “all things” can work together!
Love, Billy
Ah, the Mary and Martha struggle. I know it well. I loved what you wrote about God wishing for more of my heart in the midst of my choices. The timing of reading this is so perfect. Just a short time ago I wrote a list of all that needs to be accomplished tomorrow before we head back up north. Yes, these things need to be done, they are necessity, they are “Martha”, but praying I will do them with a Mary heart…and a “merry” heart.
Surrendering my stress,
Joy