Thanks, Martha

I’ve been accused of being a Martha a lot this week. I will add to that by sharing the thought that floated around in my head off and on yesterday:

I have a book (that I’ve never read) entitled Having a Mary Heart in a Martha World. I don’t really think my problem is “a Martha world” so much as it is a “Martha-me” (and this is not all bad)…so anyway

I’m not sure if the pinnacle, for me, came when I started to clean up after dinner last night when Drew grabbed my hand and stopped me or if it came when I was taking the last of everyone’s trays up after lunch and one of our visiting pastors simply responded with, “Thanks, Martha.”

Whenever and however it came, it was starred in the face this afternoon when we were given three hours and told, basically, to go away. We weren’t aloud to be in the church or to have our computers. It was intentionally to give us time to just get away with God (and also away from one another) and so I didn’t struggle nearly as much as I could or would have otherwise… but when it was time to go, I grabbed my Bible, in addition to two other books I am reading and headed out.

I have three Bible verses we are supposed to be memorizing…in German. And I’ve wanted to take more assertive steps in learning the language as soon as possible (not just waiting till we are in classes). So I thought about that and various other projects, responsibilities and desires I have. Part of me wanted to dive into any or all of them but I didn’t.

I thought about Mary, and having a “Mary heart.” Instead of taken the time that was given to me to “take care of” any number of things, I decided I would rest. It was wonderful! I sat in a big swing (is in the shape of a shallow bowl) and laid there swinging for a long while. I think it was forty-five minutes or so. There was more than once that I was almost asleep. After that, I swung some more, but I pulled out my i-pod. I have an album on there called “Meditations on the Words of Christ.” I listened to the “song” with the words from John 15 – “I am the vine, you are the branches…” twice. Then I listened to a song (not from that cd) taken from the 139 Psalm.

In the mean time, I was slightly engaged by some children. God brought me joy through them today. They spoke even less English than I spoke German so it was a bit difficult at times, but I met four 8 and 9 year olds. I spend a little time playing with them on the gymnastic bars, hanging and doing flips and such. (I didn’t get hurt!) It was wonderful. We talked a little about fussball (soccer) and the names of the colors and their favorite colors.

One little girl there, Sheila, really grabbed my attention. She was a petite thing, with a fuzzy dark purpley-maroon sweater on. She was sweet and said her favorite color was all the colors. I liked her. The bold one of the group, Lena, was wearing a pink coat (and glasses). Pink is her favorite color. She was outspoken and reminded me a little of myself when I was younger. Mark had an MP3 player, was riding his bike around off and one, picked on the girls quite a bit, and his favorite color is blue. I wondered if they know Jesus loves them.

I left them and spent some time on another play area on the other side of the street (walkway) in the Word. I was in the Psalms a little and then in Matthew 5. I love Matthew 5. I hardly got past the first 2 or 3 verses, I’m not sure why yet, but I have some things to learn. I did read up through “blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God” but I didn’t really delve in to anything past the first couple verses…

I came back to the church and set some (gorgeous) leaves to be flattened and dried and then spent some time in the sanctuary, praying, singing, being silent, being still, and even moving around. I’m glad I can worship God wherever I am and I have the freedom to do it in both “traditional” and “non-traditional” ways.

My Mary afternoon was refreshing. It’s not only okay but good to be a Martha, and I like that about me, but, it’s also good to be a Mary and so I enjoy my “Mary” moments and continue to learn what it means and how it looks to find the balance between the two.