One Thing is Needful

Posted on Tuesday, December 16, 2008 at 11:33

The phone was ringing and I was fumbling all over in the dark. I could hear it but I couldn’t find it. I was in such a fog my brain wasn’t working right. I finally found the light switch and the light revealed it was all of 7:24 pm. I reached for the phone.

Me: “Hello”

Caller: “Hello”

Me: “Hi”

Caller: “Hello, is this Angie?”

Me: “Yes it is”

Caller: “I can’t hear you – you don’t sound the same”.

Me: “I’m sorry, I am here.”

Caller: – who I now recognize is Helen, “You call me at ***-**** there must be something wrong with the phone ‘cause I can’t hear you. Call me right now!”

Me: thinking…”Lady, you just woke me up out of sound sleep. Me calling you right back isn’t going to wake my voice up any better, besides what makes you think I can remember a number when my head is buzzing like this?” But instead I ask: “Can I call you back tomorrow?”

Helen: “No! You call me right back!!!”

Me: “I will call you tomorrow morning”.

Helen: “NO! YOU CALL ME RIGHT BACK!! Click…

Groan! Knowing full well she wouldn’t listen anyway, I tell the dead phone, “I will call you back tomorrow….” I already know what she wants. She called us first thing this morning. She wants me to play the piano for the UCC Church for Christmas Eve, etc… and she wants the kids to play their instruments. I already agreed…

Steve groggily mutters, “Who in the world? Would you mind unplugging the phone, please?”

 “Sure, good idea!” but it’s too late… Jet lag has me screwed. I can’t go back to sleep.

Welcome to the RAT r*ce…

I am reminded of something I read in the Ethiopian Airline magazine and I think of H*len:

Do you run through each day on the fly

When you ask “How are you?” do you hear the reply?

When the day is done, do you lie in your bed

With the next hundred chores running through your head?

  -Weatherford

I’ve been dreading it, the rat race that is, not the Christmas program :-)  and yet I know that it is impossible to break loose from everything. Life goes on and with all the conveniences of this age the treadmill only speeds up. Because we can do more in less time… we do! And we should do everything in our power to be a blessing and serve, right?

Now this is what the Lord Almighty says:

“Give careful thought to your ways.”

Haggai 1:5

I found a book on Antionette’s shelf called: Having a Mary’s Heart in a Martha’s World by Joanna Weaver. The whole purpose of the book is to deal with this very issue. Women are expected to be super-heroes today and consequently we don’t necessarily have time for the “one thing” that is “needful”. Luke 10:41 Marthas are great to have around. Everybody likes them and so much gets done. Marthas do not believe there are any limits to what they can do. They think they have the capacity to help everyone and they are the only ones available to help. ---Oh, such lies they tell themselves. They even go so far as to believe that they must never make a mistake.

I am a Martha and I come by it rather naturally. My mother is the ultimate Martha. Just ask my dad! She truly believes there are no limits to what she can do – and honestly, she does the impossible. She is doing great things in Africa.

But Jesus points Martha to her sister and says that Mary is better off.

“Martha, Martha, thou art careful and troubled about many things: but one thing is needful: and Mary hath chosen that good part, which shall not be taken away from her.” Lk 10:41, 42

If you read the verse carefully Jesus didn’t actually tell Martha to quit cooking and cleaning and working hard… He was telling her she was missing one thing.

“One thing have I desired of the Lord, that will I seek after; that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord, and to inquire in His temple.” Ps. 27:4

Even the man of God, Moses, chosen by Him for a great work was rebuked for doing too much. I had never applied the text to me before, but if you read it, it’s pretty pointed.

“The thing that you do is not good. Both you and these people who are with you (would that be my children?) will surely wear yourselves out. For this thing is too much for you: You are not able to perform it by yourself!” Exodus 18:17-18

Ah, yes, by myself. That’s the key. If we would take the time to be Marys and seek that “one needful thing” we would first of all have Divine help in prioritizing life and then the strength to carry out His bidding. Good things are still good, and maybe I am not being asked to do all of them as Moses wasn’t expected to do it all, but I can have help to do what I am expected to do. And by the way, Helen will have to stand second in line... I get my orders straight from heaven.

I want to have Mary’s heart and Martha’s hands. "The cause of Christ needs careful, energetic workers. There is a wide field for the Marthas with their zeal in active religious work. But let them first sit with Mary at the feet of Jesus. Let diligence, promptness, and energy be sanctified by the grace of Christ; then the life will be an unconquerable power for good. DA 525:3

Prayer for the Journey

O Christ, do not give me takes equal to my powers,

But give me powers equal to my tasks,

For I want to be stretched by things too great for me.

I want to grow through the greatness of my tasks,

But I shall need YOUR help for the growing!

                                                            -E. Stanley Jones

It's 11:35 pm and I might try and go back to sleep. I have to call Helen in the morning and see what I can do for her. On second thought, I doubt I will have the chance. As soon as I plug the phone back in she'll be ringing me up and scolding me for not calling her back on her time-table. There's always a few rats to deal with in the rat race.

p.s. H*len is actually a nice old lady just a little bossy.

Untitled Comment

Posted by morningsunshine on Wednesday, December 17, 2008 at 05:23 - Link

welcome home. ready to go back to Africa yet? LOL!

Having some trials?

Posted by Jeanne on Wednesday, December 17, 2008 at 10:04 - Link

I am sorry that your phone gave you such a rude wake up call. It is almost impossible to escape the rat race without being rude to people.

Bethany is doing pretty good. She took a two hour nap before supper, and then was not tired at all. I stayed up with her till 11pm but then had to go to bed. She was still so bright eyed and bushy tailed that I told her she could stay in her room and wrap her Christmas presents. She said that she finally went to bed about 12:30am, but was awake again by 3am. So she parked herself on the couch and stayed there till I came upstairs about 6:30am. She was very much awake and very talkative. Well, so much for a quiet hour of devotions. Soon she was asking if we could put some Christmas music on to wake up the rest of the household. So we did, and even her big sister was kind enough to be in a good mood, even though we woke her early.
I told Beth that she had to stay up all day with no nap today, plus she has to go to the Christmas program practice this evening. She smiled and said, "I'll try Mom!". We'll see how she does:).

Have a good day!

Jeanne