Lenten essay by Episcopalian Marcia Segelstein-
A friend recently dropped off at my house a copy of Joanna Weaver's book, Having a Mary Heart in a Martha World. Perhaps I was too busy being like Martha to have read it when it was first published. But I'm glad I got the chance to read it now, especially during this season of Lent. And I'm grateful to my friend for sharing it with me, despite her busy life.
Many churches, including my own, encourage Christians to observe Lent as a time to pay special attention to our relationship with God. We are commended to simplify our lives, and focus on what's really important. It's an appropriate time to re-think our priorities.
For me the most important lesson from Luke's story of Mary and Martha is that we should make choosing the "good part" (or "better part" in some translations) a priority. We should make the time to sit at Jesus' feet, as it were, instead of letting all the day-to-day work consume our lives. Nurturing our spiritual life is what really matters.
But that's often easier said than done, as Weaver so aptly puts it. "We want to worship like Mary, but the Martha inside keeps bossing us around." Phones ring, school forms need filling out, dinner must be cooked, business meetings have to be attended, and there often seems little time to spend in quiet contemplation and prayer. Making time for God can feel like one more item on our "to do" lists.
More here-
http://www.onenewsnow.com/Perspectives/Default.aspx?id=462064
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