A Tale of 2 Women

You might be familiar with a couple of hip biblical chicks, Mary and Martha. I probably would've been friends with them had I been alive then, though I would like to pause right here and now to thank God for having the good sense to know that the particular era of no hot shower, Ann Taylor Loft, or Kenra 25 (for keeping the angled bob perfectly angled) would not have been an ideal time for me! (I love how He so knows what He is doing!!!)

In case you are not familiar or have forgotten, allow me to refresh (I am paraphrasing here):
Luke 10: 38-42
There were these 2 sisters who lived in Bethany, named Mary and Martha. Jesus was passing through and Martha opened her home to Him and to the disciples. As any good hostess would do, she was prepping the meal, getting out the good dishes, probably stashing those stacks of mail she hadn’t gotten to under the kitchen island… Anyway, she’s in the kitchen scurrying around like a chicken with its head cut off. Meanwhile, Mary was off in the other room listening to Jesus talk. Martha was getting a little hot under the collar as she was going crazy & sis is just sittin’ around, so she tattled on Mary to Jesus, hoping He would lay down the (carpenter’s) hammer. Jesus, being so true-to-form, lovingly redirects her, and reminds her that actually she is the one who needs to re-think the plan here. "Martha, Martha," the Lord answered, "you are worried and upset about many things, but only one thing is needed. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her."

That one thing is, of course, Him.

Now I am sure we'd be friends, those girls and me...they were strong women who were ahead of their time, and I like that. You know chicks didn't get a lot of "air time" back then, so that's cool. But also, I see so much of myself, have so much in common with them. Mary with the whole “thinker” thing going on (I love nothing more than sitting around thinking…I just rarely make time to do it!), and Martha, always doing…I bet she never sat down either! Surely we would've hit it off while scrubbing dust out of the clothes with a big rock down at the stream. (Oh God, thank you, thank you that I was not alive then!)

I have to believe that both women were spiritually gifted. Among other gifts, Martha obviously had the Spiritual Gift of Hospitality. I’m sure she had a lovely and warm home and always made people feel welcome.

Mary sat at the feet of Jesus in total humility, drinking in His every word. Surely she had the Spiritual Gift of Knowledge.

Allow, if you will, one of my favorite thoughts:
You know how most it is often portrayed that people have an angel sitting on one shoulder and a devil on the other...they whisper words of encouragement/discouragement, good/evil, right/wrong, at the person continually?

Well, I don't have that. (You may have read in an earlier blog post where I said that I have always been a goody-two shoes...maybe I grew up with The Angel of Guilt on one shoulder and my entire extended family on the other...staying on track isn't hard when you keep thinking "would my grandma be proud of me at this moment?")

I was somehow blessed...or cursed, depending on how you look at it...with MARY on one shoulder and MARTHA on the other! They sit upon my shoulders and scream (not whisper) words of get-things-done/take-time, run-run-run/slow-down, do-more/do-less, say-no-to-one-more-thing/you-haven’t-done-enough.

This is a theme that runs continually through my life, but is glaringly evident at this time of year when there is so much to do and such and ambiance to create. Yet all I really want to do is curl up under a blanket on the couch, no lights on but those on the tree, soft carols playing, fire in the fireplace, smells of my Yankee Christmas Eve Candle filling the house, reading a the story of the birth of the baby Jesus in the Bible and pouring over every Christmas letter and picture.

Ahhhhhhhhh….doesn’t that sound wonderful…like heaven on earth?

But here's how the real story goes:
Last week I was (hmmmm...word choice...) a stressed-out basket case trying to get my house all decorated for Christmas before a meeting I was hosting. Along with finishing the decorating, there were some gifts to get ready for the meeting, food to make, and because I’d be busy with that all evening, phone calls and emails I needed to take care of beforehand. Then the doctor’s office called and they did need to see my son after all, ASAP. How was I possibly going to get all of this done?

The list was endless and time was running out!

“The Shoulder Girls” as I like to call them, were perched a-top my collar bones, arguing with each other worse than Paris and Nicole when they had their famous 2-year feud!

My modern-day visual interpretation of the Shoulder Girls:
Mary: I picture her as a simple, sporty-though-refined, straight-forward girl. She sits on my right shoulder. I imagine her with a simple, yet stylish black knee-length shirt dress, in a wrinkle-free fabric, and practical leopard-print flats. She has long black hair pulled back in a chic pony.

Martha: The much fussier of the 2…or as some might surmise, high-maintenance…sits on my left, zebra-print sweater dress from Ann Taylor Loft, long strand of pearls doubled around her neck, black tights, black boots. She feels fabulous in this outfit…I know because I wore this exact combo just this very day! In my mind she has a choppy light brown crop with very well done highlights.

They sit upon me most of the time and banter back and forth. When I finally decide to relax and take it slow, which is rare, Martha is ranting in my ear about all that I should and could be doing.

When I am working through that to-do list and multi-tasking like a maniacal Franklin-Covey devotee, then Mary is chastising me for not living in the moment and stopping to meditate, pray, read, and recharge.

I often feel like I can’t win as these girls present their cases to me and their on-going closing arguments!!!

I really want to be like Mary (laid back and in the moment), but I am wired so much more like Martha (giant type A), thus the constant fighting it out between the Shoulder Girls.

On this particular day of the meeting I mentioned, Mary won…it just all couldn’t get done! I had no choice but to shove the un-hung Christmas ornaments into the corner, light the un-decorated tree, and we all shared a good laugh about my imperfection. I had a great time that night, relishing in the people and the moment!

And I don't want it to be perfect and all Martha-y just so I can look good to other people.
...if you that’s what you think you are missing the point!
I want it to be perfect to show the people in my life that they are worth going the extra mile, that I love them enough to go out of my way, to go overboard.

But I am learning that Jesus just calls me to make time to be with those people, to laugh with them at my lack of perfection, and to tell them that I love them...and they will feel it and know. I don’t have to DO everything. I can actually sit down and listen to Jesus speak to me.

That’s all He wants me to do anyway! The jury is still out on whether or not I can actually pull it off, but I will give it my best shot going forward.

So I guess this Christmas, with all there is to do and give and host and bake and wrap and ...........
I challenge you and I challenge my own self to live out those Martha moments if we simply must, but to just hurry up and get them over with, get them out of the way. Only then can we be what He is really calling us to be, which is Mary, sitting with Him and the others that we love, 100% focused on the moment, listening.

For that choice "is better, and will not be taken away..." (Luke 10:38-42)

Question: Are you more like Mary or Martha? In what way? Do you need to make some changes?