Thursday, February 26, 2009

Martha or Mary?

One of my favorite bloggers Cathy at From the field of Blue Children has given me some thoughts about Lent.

Cathy's post Thanks is all about how little things like giving thanks to the Lord can mean so much.

After reading this post I started thinking about Jesus and when he went to the house of Mary and Martha. Martha kept busy cleaning, preparing food, and making the house perfect for her Lord. Mary sat at Jesus' feet and just wanted to be with him.

I am a lot like Martha. My family says Grace before every meal. Everyone sits at the table hands folded and gives thanks. I on the other hand am running around getting drinks, cleaning up messes, dishing out food while I am saying Grace.

While at Church or praying at home I always have my next task in the back of my mind. What do I have to do next, what do the kids need, what did my husband ask me to do?

I believe that Martha was doing what she thought was best to show Jesus how important he was. I think I can do that as well in my daily tasks but sometimes it is good to be Mary,to forget everything and put all of our attention on the Lord. Even if that means a quick little thank you to God or to others as Cathy mentioned in her post.

To be honest I think I will always be more like Martha, thinking about and praising God while my hands are busy, but I hope to let the quiet actions of Mary in as well.

2 comments:

Allison said...

Both roles, I've read, the contemplative and the active are both roads to sanctity...good to be a little of both.

I'm that mom at dinner too.

Great post!

Christine said...

Great post. Something to wrap my busy mind around!