One Thing

Here we are, fleshing out 2015. All those resolutions and goals…so many things we want accomplished. They say it takes twenty-one days to solidify a new habit. It’s day twenty-four, and so far the new year is looking a lot like the old. Normally I’d be freaked out, but I’m not. And that’s the biggest change I’ve seen thus far this year.

What’s made the difference? Something I missed in the story of Mary and Martha.

Several weeks ago while reading the book of Luke, I was stopped in my tracks at the very familiar story of Mary and Martha.

“A woman named Martha welcomed Jesus into her home. She had a sister called Mary, who was seated at the Lord’s feet, listening to His word.

But Martha was distracted…”

It’s a story that never particularly stood out to me personally, probably because I’m not the most domestic of females, as anyone who knows me well could attest. Without a doubt, I’m not the type to be compared with hospitable Martha. However, reading the account this time spoke to me like never before because I noticed something I’d previously overlooked. It’s something the most un-domestic of us might nevertheless be guilty of. What I’d failed to ever notice before was this: it wasn’t Martha’s tendency towards service and fussing over preparations that Jesus confronted. Not at all. What Jesus addressed wasn’t that Martha was too domestic, but that she was too distracted.

Martha, Martha, you are worried and bothered about so many things…

No, it wasn’t Martha’s activity that concerned Jesus, it was her anxiety. Dear, domestic, hospitable Martha…it seems I share more in common with you than I realized.

Could we just as easily replace her name with ours? I now realize I certainly could. “Lisa, Lisa, you are worried and bothered about so many things…”

Maybe my things are different than Martha’s, and, no doubt, your things are different than mine. Nevertheless, like her, are we worried and bothered by them? Our families, our futures, our finances? Our weight, our work, our will? Our lack of ambition, our lousy attitude, our limited accomplishment? Everyone’s list is different, but if we take time to examine our hearts and acknowledge the things we’re anxious about, would it be so many things? It was for me.

So what’s the remedy? If you’re anything like me you make a list. You put everything in neat little boxes, you bullet point, you break it down. You resolve to solve…and there’s no better time than the beginning of a new year! You get busy, and the sooner the better because, after all, there are so many things. So we start the diet, curb the spending, create the goals, list the resolutions; we bite the tongue, book the travel, change the attitude, face the fears. But is that the answer Jesus supplied, the remedy He prescribed? Not by a long shot.

No, His answer was not to energize, but to eliminate…not to induce activity, but to reduce it. To reduce the so many things to just one.

“Martha, Martha, you are worried and bothered about so many things, but only one thing is necessary…

Martha’s sister, Mary, had chosen that one thing.  “Mary…was seated at the Lord’s feet, listening to His word“.

So, I’ve made a change for the new year…one single change. Change is such a common theme at the start of any new year, and truly there are changes I want to see. However, rather than fret and worry about so many things, I’ll be concentrating on one. This year I’m choosing what Mary chose, the one thing Jesus said was necessary. I’ve replaced the many things on my list of things to tackle this year with only the one. First and foremost I’ll be “seated at the Lord’s feet, listening to His word”.  Jesus called it “the good part” which I would imagine could make for a very good year.