Hi, this is Janet Tronstad here. I wanted to share with you a question our pastor asked in church this morning. Are you a Mary or a Martha (as in busy or thoughtful)? It turns out most people in the congregation thought they were a Martha and not a Mary. I guess the pastor wasn't surprised because his whole sermon was on how Christians tend to get too busy. It was particularly interesting to me because I've been thinking a lot lately about how I can fill up my days with things to do and don't always get done the things I really want to do. I've made a pact with myself to take it slower and do less that I don't want to do (not always easy as someone is always asking). I'm wondering who else feels like that? I'm not sure we ever solve this problem, but I do think we periodically need to adjust our list of things to do.
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I've sat during many a Mary Martha sermon, problem is... it's hard to find the balance. I've been Martha and burned out. On the other hand, if there's too many Marys in a church, no one's teaching children's Bible class or staying after to clean up after a potluck. LOL, maybe we need to introduce a Maribel who is the combination of both.
ReplyDeleteAmen, Pamela! :)
ReplyDeleteYou know, Janet, saying no is a learned skill! :) It's something we should learn to do, though. Sometimes there are jobs we shouldn't accept, because maybe God has someone else in mind that needs to do it! :) That's what I tell myself after saying no, anyway. :)
Pamela -- You're right about things needing to be done and that's what usually gets me in trouble with agreeing to do too many things.
ReplyDeleteAnd Missy -- hopefully you are right and the things that we say no to are picked up by someone else.
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ReplyDeleteI was a Martha while the girls were young but now that I am turning 60 next month, I am a Mary. In a way, I've always been a Mary as I've always loved to sit aside time to sit at Jesus feet for 51 years. I cannot go on without some fresh word to fill my mind and drive the enemy away.
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Squiresj -- that's a beautiful post and a good reminder that our roles change in different seasons of our lives.
ReplyDeleteLOL -- I just read through these responses and saw I had a deleted post. That sounds mysterious, doesn't it? I had just posted the same thing twice (I didn't know the first one had gone through) -- so I deleted the second one not realizing it would show as a deleted post.
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