Just a Modern Martha | Previous Challenge Entry

how it works

TITLE: Just a Modern Martha | Previous Challenge Entry
By Elaine Hemingway
11/24/16
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As Jesus and his disciples were on their way, he came to a village where a woman named Martha opened her home to him. She had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet listening to what he said. But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made. She came to him and asked, “Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!”

“Martha, Martha,” the Lord answered, “You are worried and upset about many things, but few things are needed—or indeed only one. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.” Luke 10:38-42

I wonder how many times I have felt like Martha. “Why are we waiting? It’s getting irritating,” the kids would sing in chorus with my husband as they waited for me to join them in the car. It was in vain that I would try to explain how fortunate they were in only having themselves to organise. I never did master the art of training a husband in the complexities of home-making responsibilities.

That old adage of “If a job’s worth doing, do it properly,” has been constantly in the back of my mind even though it was not always achievable! You know how it’s said, “If at first you don’t succeed, then try, try again?” I’m still trying!

If you come to visit me unexpectedly I will be thrilled to welcome you, but please accept me as you find me, in my normal state of chaos. It hasn’t improved as I have aged and my efforts have become more frenetic. The challenges have changed and also the people involved. The kids are now grown up, and think they have mastered all the arts I failed at – while I battle on with new trials.

There’s a dishwasher now to save on time at the sink, but no-body seems to understand why I stack it the way I do. There are modern quilts instead of sheets and blankets on the bed, but they need to be arranged the acceptable, aesthetically approved way. Modern gadgets take the drudgery out of the mundane – but problems dog me.

When I manage to turn on the coffee machine but forget to put the jug in place, that’s the Martha in me, trying to do two things at once. But when I sit with my Bible on my lap with devotionals beside me, that’s the start of a good day.

That’s the Mary in me, and Martha can wait her turn.

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