My husband has been telling me, "You need to slow down."
I work full time, I still co-teach Sunday School. I try to make it to prayer meeting on Wednesday night. I try not to be so tired in the evenings because I want to spend time with my daughter and my husband. I wonder how my parents are doing. I wonder how my friends are doing and I want to talk to them all! I want to have plenty of time to write. But there are only 24 hours in a day. I can't pack everything into one day.
Days go by and turn into a week and I haven't spoken to my mother, even on the telephone. If my husband wasn't so good about going to the grocery store on the days he's off, I guess we'd starve or live off fast food, because I never feel like going to the store when I get off work. The weekends are packed with trying to clean the house, spending quality time with my daughter and husband. Pieces of me are spread so far thin, it's a wonder there is anything left to go around!
My writing, my passion, my one true goal, gets pushed to "whenever". Some weeks, whenever just doesn't come. And if it does come, I waste my time checking email, blogging or just piddling. I'm the only one that can make that dream happen. Well, I'm dependent on others, but I have to finish revisions and submit the manuscript, or it will never be viewed by the requesting editor!
What I'm taking so long to say is that Joanna Weaver's book was timely. Too timely almost. I'm thinking, Lord, did you have something to do with this?
Of course He did. He's planned it all out. I believe He even Mrs. Weaver's book, one I promise will speak volumes to you whether you're a student, a stay at home mom, working mom, or grandma.
I'm familiar with the story of Mary and Martha. I've thought how lucky those too ladies were to host Jesus in their home. But in the past, I've skimmed over the story. I never saw it for what it is. Thank goodness, Joanna Weaver takes this piece of the bible and studies it line by line. She has a way of explaining Mary and Martha in terms that I can identify with.
Martha was the type of person who obsessed over every detail. The flower arrangement had to be perfect and it had to match the napkins and tablecloth. Mary had helped during the day, but she knew the purpose of the evening. Martha was in too big of a hurry to make sure everything was perfect and everyone was happy to realize those things weren't important.
I look at my opening paragraphs and I can find fault with the way my to-do list is set up. Work is first. Worship is crunched somewhere between work and family. Did the Lord crunch me on His to-do list? No. He's got equal time for us all. Shouldn't He be at the TOP of my priorities?
This makes me think of a lady I worked for many years. When I began working for her, I was a Christian, but I will admit, my walk wasn't worthy of the Lord. I sat down with my new boss during a one-on-one meeting and she listed out her priorities to me. If she had asked me what I thought her priorities were, I would've put work at the top of the list for she was a woman who did her job well, had an organized and highly productive team. I was the newest member.
To my surprise, her list went like this: God, Husband, Children, Family... Work was somewhere down the line. But the key here is God was first on her list. This reflects the story of Mary and Martha. God was first on Mary's list, but for Martha, He was somewhere down the line.
Joanna Weaver opens up this book with the tale of the sisters and addresses so many topics we ladies face in between. She analyzes the Lord's intended balance of work and worship. The book is easy to read and draws you into the world of Mary and Martha, every woman's world. The question is, where do you fall? Is it where the Lord wants you to be?
About Joanna:
Joanna Weaver was voted the Most Promising New Writer of 1997 at the Mount Herman Writer’s Conference. She has authored Having a Mary Heart in a Martha World and written for publications such as Focus on the Family, Home Life, Aspire, and The Evangel. A pastor’s wife for more than eighteen years, she and her husband have counseled many couples, both those approaching their wedding and those struggling in marriage. The Weavers live in Montana and have taught young married classes and spoken on the topic of marriage throughout the northwestern United States.
About Having a Mary Heart in a Martha World:
An invitation for every woman who’s ever felt she isn’t godly enough, isn’t loving enough, isn’t doing enough.
The life of a woman today isn’t really all that different from that of Mary and Martha in the
New Testament. Like Mary, you long to sit at the Lord’s feet…but the daily demands of a busy world just won’t leave you alone. Like Martha, you love Jesus and really want to serve him…yet you struggle with weariness, resentment, and feelings of inadequacy.
Then comes Jesus, into the midst of your busy life, to extend the same invitation he issued long ago to the two sisters from Bethany. Tenderly, he invites you to choose “the better part”–a joyful life of intimacy with him that flows naturally into loving service.
Check out Joanna's blog.
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