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Many of us are overwhelmed, burned out, or just exhausted. We are tired of being tired.
As I write this, I am battling COVID even though I have been vaccinated and boosted and I rarely go out without a mask. We need some solace in our world.
I find myself acting like Martha way too often in this season. Busy, doing “the Lord’s work.” But if I am honest, I need to be at the Lord’s feet like Mary.
If you were raised like I was, there are particular ways you were taught you get close to God: through prayer, fasting, and reading the Bible. I believe those are wonderful ways to go deeper in our relationship with Jesus.
But what Mary is doing is a more intimate exchange. She is literally sitting at Jesus’ feet. She is not a member of the crowd hearing a message from Jesus. Mary gets the opportunity to learn from Jesus in a gender-defying and position-defying way.
In sitting at Jesus’ feet she is able to learn intimately from her Lord. He is clearly the teacher, and she is the pupil. This type of learning is particular, unique, and special. Jesus says she has chosen the better part—something just for her that will not be taken away.
Mary is a model for us not over and against her sister Martha but over and against us all. We all need to learn how to go deeper in our relationship with Jesus. How to not just skim the surface of all that Jesus wants to teach us, show us, offer us but to dig deep into the intimate exchange that is the better part.
This is especially true when the world is overwhelming and there is so much to do. We need to have our ears attuned to what Jesus is saying so we can know what is ours to work on and what is not. To know which things we should labor for in this season—and when it is time to let someone else come and water the seeds we have planted in faith while we get the nourishment we need at the feet of Jesus.
