Today is Friday, June 18th, 2010; Karen's Korner #1845
As most Karen's Korner readers know, I belong to an ecumenical group of gals known as the "Marys & Marthas". Because of that, we have looked at the Bible verses about these two sisters more than an occasional time or two:
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 only one thing is needed. Mary has chosen what is better,
and it will not be taken away from her."
(Luke 10:38-42 NIV)
I had always believed that Mary was doing the right thing; Martha was doing the wrong thing.
But while reading these verses a few years ago, I began to believe that maybe the 'wrong' thing that Martha was doing was 'whining' about her lot in life to Jesus, as compared to Mary.
There may have been nothing wrong with one worshipping Jesus and one preparing for Jesus' presence in their home.
Martha may have made her mistake when she came to Jesus saying, "Look at my sister.....she is.......she isn't....she doesn't......she can't......"
Made me think about us.
How often do we 'whine' to Jesus about our lot in life: our lack of money, social position, unhappiness with our employment, our family members and/or our relationships with them...as compared with others in our life.
If we want to have good mental and spiritual health, God wants us to remind Him and ourselves of our thankfulness of what we currently have. He may enjoy hearing our requests for a number of things, but not our whines of what we don't have as compared to another person or group of people who possess something we do not currently have.
Dear Jesus, thank You for Mary and Martha and the Marys and Marthas in our lives. We are like them. Sometimes we praise; sometimes we whine. Forgive us; help us. You want to give us the desires of our hearts. But You also want us to keep our eyes on You and not on the people and their circumstances which are around us. We ask You and trust You. Amen.
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