A Month with Mary and Martha – Day 11

We all have a little bit of Martha and a little bit of Mary in us.  (Kinda like Donny and Marie – “I’m a little bit country, I’m a little bit rock-and-roll…”  You do remember Donny and Marie, don’t you?)  I don’t think there are Marthas out there who can’t worship, or Marys who can’t serve.  The idea is to find a healthy balance: to know when to sit at the feet of Jesus and when to kick it in gear in the kitchen. 

 Jesus didn’t tell Mary to leave the living room, but He also didn’t tell Martha to leave the kitchen.  Maybe He didn’t have a problem with what she was doing, but how she was doing it.  If my service for Jesus causes me to be all tied up with anxiety and I’m increasingly frustrated with the people around me, that’s a red flag that something’s amiss.  If I’m calling out my sisters and brothers because they aren’t measuring up to my standards, I might be using the wrong yardstick.  If I’m seeing God as being part of the problem because He’s not agreeing with me, well, I’ve got a problem. 

Jesus didn’t take sides between the two sisters.  If Mary had been sitting at His feet biting her nails and pulling her hair out He might have said, “Mary, Mary…”  If Martha had been happily slicing and dicing away in the kitchen with the door open so she could hear the Master teach, she might have been commended. 

It seems that balance has a lot to do with attitude.