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 few things are needed—or indeed only one. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.” Luke 10:38-42
“You are very concerned with making the right choices about your work. You have so many options that you are constantly overwhelmed by the question “What should I do and what should I not do?” You are asked to respond to many concrete needs. There are people to visit, people to receive, people to simply be with. There are issues that beg for attention, books it seems important to read, and works of art to be seen. But what of all this truly deserves your time?
Start by not allowing these people and issues to possess you. As long as you think that you need them to be yourself, you are not really free. Much of their urgency comes from your own need to be accepted and affirmed. You have to keep going back to the source: God’s love for you. In many ways, you still want to set your own agenda. You act as if you have to choose among many things, which all seem equally important. But you have not fully surrendered yourself to God’s guidance. You keep fighting with God over who is in control.”
Try to give your agenda to God. Keep saying, “Your will be done, not mine.” Give every part of your heart and your time to God and let God tell you what to do, where to go, when and how to respond. God does not want you to destroy yourself. Exhaustion, burnout, and depression are not signs that you are doing God’s will. God is gentle and loving. God desires to give you a deep sense of safety in God’s love. Once you have allowed yourself to experience that love fully, you will be better able to discern who you are being sent to in God’s name. It is not easy to give your agenda to God. But the more you do so, the more “clock time” becomes “God’s time,” and God’s time is always the fullness of time.”
Henri Nouwen in The Inner Voice of Love: A Journey Through Anguish to Freedom (New York: Image, 1998) 105-106.
In my work, I have allowed people and issues to possess me, which means often my work has enslaved me. Not only does this steal my joy. It robs me from the opportunity to extend rich generosity. Perhaps you can relate?
When I revisit today’s Scripture, I find myself in the example of Martha. She sees all the work that need to be done. Unlike Mary, she is distracted from the one thing that she should have been focused on: Jesus.
I am learning that when I give my agenda to God and focus on the one thing that is needful for me, namely, receiving whatever Jesus has for me daily, the rest somehow falls into place and gets sorted.
This is actually the best kind of giving too. When we give our agenda to the Father and receive from Jesus whatever He has for us, we are empowered by the Spirit to live, give, serve, and love generously.