Same Song, Bazillionth Verse

Posted by Lisa Laree to Beer Lahai Roi

Day four of yet another upper respiratory ailment.  This is the third one since Thanksgiving.

I had an errand this morning that couldn't be skipped; as I was driving down the road breathing through my mouth, experimenting with a little singing, just to see if choir on Sunday is going to be a possibility (doesn't look like it), I reflected on other times and events when I came down with the nasty coughy croakies.

With the exception of the one I had over New Year's, which has an identifiable moment of exposure, most of the time I really don't know where the bug came from.

But it hit me that almost always I was in 'push' mode...with projects or schedules that just didn't allow me much down time.  Times when I just had to put my head down and work...and then come home and try to just keep the family functioning; a clean house and caught up laundry weren't even on the radar.  Food for tonight and clean underwear for tomorrow was as good as I could manage.

And...ding ding ding...as I had less time for down time I realized I was more likely to get sick.

Now, we are discussing 'Commitment to Christ' in my middle school girls classes, and somehow some discussion of the Ten Commandments has slipped into the discussion.  Two in particular, because I don't think we give them the right connotations all the time:

Taking God's name in vain and keeping the Sabbath.

I'll discuss the first one another time; our discussion of the Sabbath is what has smacked me this week.

Because, if you read through the scripture, you will find that the observation of the Sabbath had virtually nothing to do with corporate worship.  It was to be a day of rest.  A weekly Jubilee.  One day a week in which obligations to provide were laid aside, with the understanding that God would cover things.  The manna wouldn't spoil.  A test in trusting Him.

Do we trust God enough to lay down our work for one day and spend it with family and friends, talking and laughing and not be 'anxious and troubled about many things' ? To sit down at His feet and chose the good part?

 I told the girls, mentioning that our bodies are not made to stay in work mode day in and day out; we were given a Sabbath so we could rest and restore.

So...how ironic that less than a week later I am coughing and stopped up and achy.  And I realize that I have been in 'go' mode for a while now...and there really is no end in sight.

I spent most of my Jubilee year trying to figure out the balance between service/obligation and rest.  When am I Martha, anxious about many things...and when am I Mary, choosing the good part?

A year and a half later I had a bout of mononucleosis; even though I had every reason to rest...I still didn't.  Not entirely.  It wasn't until the April 2011 storms knocked power out for a week and we had enforced down time that I finally felt anything like normal again.

But...and here's the bazillionth verse...how do I cut back?  What can I release and trust to God?  Aye, there's the rub...I have to admit that I am replaceable.

After the school musical costuming is done and the data base has migrated at work and I have someone who is called and eager to teach at least one of my three classes and we have our finances caught back up so my salary isn't required...

Um, yeah.  I still haven't got it. I see it, but I haven't GOT IT.  When I get it, I'll know what to put down.

Maybe I'll even see how to do that.

Only ONE Thing...

Posted by Lisa Laree to Beer Lahai Roi

It is a fight, isn't it? To remember that One Thing that Mary chose...to forget all the other demands on her and to sit at Jesus' feet.

I was brought back to this passage again today, as I struggled to just sit and be still for even a few minutes.

Why can't I focus? I asked, trying to make headway in my reading through the middle of Isaiah.

The answer was in my spirit almost before I'd finished forming the question.
You are bothered by many things...only one thing is needful.

So I turned to Luke 10 and reread the little vignette of Mary and Martha. In the NIV, the tail end of verse 41 going into 42 reads this way:
You are worried and upset about many things, but only one thing is needed.

I looked up the Greek words for 'worried' (Strong's 3309 - merimao: anxious care) and 'upset' (Strong's 5182 - turbazo: disturbed in the mind, anxious, stirred up) then realized the contrast Jesus was making wasn't in Martha's mind set or attitudes...it was in the numbers: 'Many things' vs. 'One thing'.

Jesus wasn't talking about Martha's fluster, He was talking about her focus. Martha was trying to focus on many things...Mary was focused on one. The Good part.

Over and over again, God teaches me through these sisters...

Lord, you know my heart. The part that really, really wants to please You and that part that really, really wants to please people. And the part that wants to represent You by being a servant that somehow blends the two. But I don't have enough wisdom to balance it all myself. I need your help. Because this battle isn't with any one or any thing or any circumstance...it's in my own head, choosing to stop and focus on You when everything else...many things...are demanding my attention. Resensitize my ears, Lord, that I may hear Your voice amid the clamor, and strengthen my will to turn aside at that moment and focus on You alone.