Mary or Martha??

At work we have been reading the book "Having a Mary Heart in a Martha World" by Joanna Weaver as part of a devotional series. In the bible, Mary and Martha are sisters who are visited by Jesus in their home. The short version--Martha is busy in the kitchen fixing supper while Mary is in the other room visiting with Jesus. Martha gets upset because Mary isn't helping get things ready and asks Jesus to tell Mary to come help. Instead, Jesus explains to Martha that Mary is really the one in the right and that Martha should take a minute to enjoy the moment and not spend all her time "fussing" over making things perfect. This is my short synopsis.

Well, with the Christmas holidays in full swing, I have thought about the first few chapters of this book a lot. I have definitely had my share of Martha moments since we began readying this book. Let me share my most recent.

My oldest daughter just returned from college to spend the holidays with us. She brought all her dirty clothes, two dogs--one a puppy, computer monitor/bag of keyboards & mouse/tower, and enough blankets to keep every homeless person in our town of 200,000 warm. (She is very cold natured) She has left a trail from the back door to the laundry room, to the dining room, to the living room, to our bedroom, to our bathroom, up the stairs, and finally to her bedroom. My house is upside down. There is not one room, with the exception of my husbands office, that doesn't have something of hers laying in it or on it.

Now, I like Martha, want everything to be perfect, in its place, and with little clutter. After all clutter is a sign of being unorganized---and I am very organized! I spent the first two days after her arrival stewing around picking things up, moving things around, piling things up, and stressing over all of her "things" cluttering up my house.

Then I remembered Mary. Yesterday, I heard that my brothers best friend from high school had just received some very disturbing news. His daughter, a freshman at a large, private, church affiliated university, had tried to commit suicide. That news in itself is very disturbing and saddens you for the family, especially at Christmas time---after all, this is a time of celebration. But the way she tried to commit suicide is even more disturbing. She took her bible and went onto I-35, one of the busiest thorough-fares in Texas and stepped into traffic hoping to be killed. After several failed attempts, she tried one last time and stepped in front of a semi truck. Thankfully the semi swerved and missed her but a Ford pickup hit her. She has survived this accident with only and I do say only a broken leg and pelvis. She has been spared and gets another chance at life--she is very lucky.

When I hear things like this I do remember Mary and remind myself have thankful I should be that my daughter has her "Stuff" all over my house and it really doesn't matter that things aren't in order. I need to cherish this time and enjoy the moment I have with her. Fussing over order is nothing if you don't have your child around to fuss over!