Daily Devotion - Luke 10:38-42

Now 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. And she had a sister called Mary, which also sat at Jesus' feet, and heard his word. But 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. And Jesus answered and said unto her, Martha, Martha, thou art careful and troubled about many things: But one thing is needful: and Mary hath chosen that good part, which shall not be taken away from her. -Luke 10:38-42

This is a confess your faults one to another time.  This is funny - writing this devotion has been on my mind for about a week and a half, but I just haven't had the time to do it. LOL  I guess that's why it's been on my mind.  I know, I know - But I'm just sooo busy!  Join the club.  Now, I haven't been neglecting my devotion time or anything like that (well, okay, there was one day that I just rolled out of bed and threw on some clothes and dragged the kids out the door so we could get to the fair on time, but besides that, I've been pretty good).  The kids are in 4H and we had the fair for the last week and on top of it, I'm running a homeshool co-op of 60 families and my hard drive crashed, so I'm trying to rebuild all of the information I lost in the crash before we start next Thursday AND we started school today, so I had to have everything ready for that and usually I'm ready by the end of June, but I wasn't this year.  I was really scrambling in the last couple of weeks. But, I've been just this drone dragging myself from activity to activity and crashing in bed at night.  Instead of praising God in my devotion time, I found myself more likely to be begging for His divine intervention in my life to get me through the day.  Really, what kind of life is that?  When I get into that mode, I'm just a shell of a person.  Do you ever get like that?  It just seems like life takes you over.  Let's face it - this world is like that, and apparently, it was like that even back in Jesus' day.  There are so many things that seem so important.  I have that sort of o.c.d. personality that can take multi-tasking to an extreme.  That's the Martha syndrome.  I can see her rushing around, making sure everything was perfect - the food all arranged in a specific way and the bowls being bountifully filled, and all the while she's looking at Mary with disdain.  The more I picture that in my head, the more I feel disdain for Mary too.  Oh, I'd like to say that I'm spiritual enough to say that I can't believe that Martha would be rushing around when Jesus is sitting right there.  Truth be told, I'd probably be doing the same thing.  I pray to be a Mary.  The will is there but then it's blurred by my penchant for making everything just-so.  Be real:  How many people could just sit at Jesus' feet all day every day?  We have lots to do - the kids, the house, church, yada yada yada.  I'm learning, though, that it's all about what spirit you do it in.  I'm also learning that if you're that overwhelmed that you can't focus on Jesus throughout the day, maybe you should simplify.  Why do you do what you do?  How much of it do you do because you want to look good to others?  I know, sometimes you need to put your nose to the grind stone and just get something done - the housework needs to be done, that project needs to be finished...  But maybe, just maybe, you can refocus.   I have a feeling that when Martha was busy about her work, she wasn't thinking about serving the Lord, she was thinking about how she looked in front of Jesus.  She needed a little refocus.  Maybe it's possible to get the work done but do it an attitude of doing it for the Lord.  Remember? And whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men; (Colossians 3:23).  Don't get stuck in the rut of just cranking out the work.  Take some time to be with the Lord throughout the day, not just getting your devotions done in the morning.  Renew your energy by reminding yourself of Who you're doing it for.  Meditate on His Word.  Do memory verses and repeat them through the day to keep your mind staid on the Lord.  Work on doing that which is needful.