The stress lately is just melting off from me. Which is not
something you often hear me say. Usually I am being crushed under the weight of
the stress. I have
been trying to take care of myself emotionally, physically and spiritually. I
am the person who gets tripped up often, and finds myself toiling in the
kitchen. I worry that if I do not prepare the food, it won’t be there. And then
I take it a step further, and worry about how good the food is for those who
are going to eat it, and then try to adjust the menu so that there is something
everyone wants to eat. Then I worry how much everyone is eating, or not eating.
Then I find myself in the kitchen washing the dishes, and then worrying about
tomorrow’s meals. Call me Martha! My fingers are wrinkled from soapy water. I
smell of the burnt chicken in the oven. My elbow grease is lathered all over
the place in my frantic efforts to get things done. My name is Martha.
When I read the story in Luke, I find myself relating more to Martha than Mary. I can feel the strain in her muscles, the sting in her eyes, the water on her hands.
But the great thing is that Martha’s can change. We can
become Mary’s. And the last few days the stress has been melting away, because
in those moment I find myself bent over a hot stove, with wrinkled hands for
being submerged in the soapy water. I start to grumble! And then I realize what
I am doing. I realize I am in the kitchen slaving away, slaving away at the
wrong thing! And then I relocate myself to being sitted at his feet. Like my
prior post, where I am realizing I have no control and learning to let go. You
cannot let go of something without replacing it with something else. In this
case, it is replacing it with my location. Relocating myself to being at his
feet.
“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.” ~Luke 10:41-42
I still find myself from the other room calling out to the
Lord “Lord don’t you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself?
Tell her to help me!” ~Luke 10:40b
It is pretty lonely and miserable in the kitchen. I am not
sure what Mary was doing at that moment as she was prepping for her guests. I
mean, God himself was her guest. I am sure she felt the pressure for sure. But
in those moments when I find myself worried and upset about many things, and my
fingertips still dripping with soapy water. I realize how hard I am trying to
work in my own power. How I am trying to earn. Works. And often when I am at
his feet, I still have the suds from the dishes on my hands.
With soapy hands and at His feet. I might not be lacking the soapy hands, but I am learning to relocate.
Tina
No comments:
Post a Comment