Only one thing!

I imagine your life is not that different from mine.  There always seem to be things that need to be done, people that need to be seen, calls that need to be made, emails that need to be returned.  Everything seems to be so urgent.  And, as we deal with the urgent, the important things sometimes seem to fall by the wayside.
I’ve been thinking a lot of a story in the Bible about two sisters, Mary and Martha.  If any two people exemplify the urgent vs. the important, it’s these two.

The story is found in Luke chapter 10 beginning at verse 38.  Jesus arrives at the sisters’ home for dinner. Martha welcomes the Lord into their home and immediately gets to work in the kitchen. After all, Jesus came with an entourage and there was much to do!  Meanwhile, her sister Mary sat at Jesus feet, listening to all that he taught.  So what does Martha do?

She came to Jesus and said, “Lord, doesn’t it seem unfair to you that my sister just sits here while I do all the work? Tell her to come and help me.” 

Martha got things done.  She was an organizer and a worker and watching her sister just sit around was driving her crazy. ( I get Martha!)  She got into such a tizzy that she went into the living room and yelled at the King of King and Lord of Lords to get her sister to help!  Honestly, Martha makes me laugh, maybe because I could totally see myself doing the same thing.

Jesus replied,

“My dear Martha, you are worried and upset over all these details! There is only one thing worth being concerned about. Mary has discovered it, and it will not be taken away from her.”

Only one thing.

Now if you are like me you are probably wondering, “Well that’s fine but who is going to cook the meal? Who is going to do all the urgent things?”

And then I wonder, if Martha had just sat down at Jesus feet with Mary, would they have experienced another miracle. Not long before Jesus supernaturally fed 5,000 + people, I doubt that Jesus had run out of miracles!

What might happen in our lives if we took Jesus’ advice and made this “one thing” a priority, to recognize it as important?

Life does not depend on us doing everything …it depends on you and me taking everything to God, hearing God’s voice, following God’s leading, and delighting ourselves in the Lord. Because the joy of the Lord is our strength.

“There is only one thing worth being concerned about.” We like Mary, would be wise to discover it.  That one thing is God!

By making God the important priority in our lives, we are no longer subject to the demands of the urgent.  We no longer have to live in our own strength. 

Let’s not allow the tyranny of the urgent deny us time to draw near to our life source! 

Today let’s choose the One thing —let’s prioritize the important over the urgent

No regrets!

I came across a Facebook post recently that said this:

“Each day you must choose: The pain of discipline or the pain of regret.”  

I found the quote rather intriguing so I decided to track down the source. With a few clicks on the keyboard I discovered that this statement was made by a former NFL coach.  Perhaps it is not surprising that such a statement was rooted in the sports world, but it can apply elsewhere.

 Discipline is tough and often something many of us try to avoid, if we can. But in sports and in life, short-term pain very often leads to long-term gain, right? To avoid the pain of discipline can lead to the pain of regret and the “what ifs” and “If only I hads” that comes with it.

 The Webster dictionary definition of regret is: a feeling of sadness or disappointment about something that you did not do. 

 Regret is a painful look back at the choices we have made.

 In 1 Corinthians 24-25, Paul talks about the importance of discipline by using the metaphor of running a race.  He says: 

 24 Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. 25 Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training.They do it to get a crown that will not last, but we do it to get a crown that will last forever.

 Strict training may sound painful but that’s what’s necessary to run the race — a race that we are all running.  

 Paul is saying that we must discipline ourselves to not just run the race but also to run to win!  We’re not running to win some plastic trophy or the blue ribbon (a prize that will not last). As Jesus followers we do it for an eternal prize. We run to honour and glorify the One who gave His life for us. That's why we run to win.  

 No regrets, because everything we do we do unto the Lord. 

 My prayer for each of us today is that we will make choices that don’t result in regret, but rather will be wise and honouring to God!

The Pearl

It’s amazing to me how we can hang on to the things of the past.  When I was pretty young my dad and my stepmother went to Spain as part of his sabbatical from the University.  When they returned they told me of their amazing trip away and my stepmother showed me the pearls she got while visiting Mallorca.

Something happened in that moment, like a seed that took root or a thorn lodged in my flesh. Either way, 12 year old Mona decided that she would one day travel to Spain and get a pearl of her own. 

Brian did some research on pearls and discovered that there is quite a range - from imitation to cultured and of course natural pearls found in the wild.  He offered to scuba dive the waters of Mallorca to find me a pearl but I decided to hedge my bets and just buy one, if ever I got there.

It took 40 years, but finally this summer we made it to Mallorca, Spain. It was the weirdest sensation finally being in the place I had longed to be for so long.  As I walked up the cathedral steps I wondered if my dad was in awe, as I was, by the grandeur of the building made to praise and worship God.  Did he stop and take it in or did he just walk by?

As we walked the streets of the beautiful town of Palma it was clear that the thing to buy in this place was pearls.  Little pearl shops were everywhere and Majorica Pearls (the brand name), we discovered, were inexpensive and not “real”.  I didn’t care. I was not leaving this place without a pearl. 

We stopped at a little shop and I saw one that I quite liked.  It was super inexpensive and I was pleased to have found something so quickly.  Brian on the other hand was not impressed.  

“Let’s keep going, this way,” he said as he looked down at his Google maps app.  “There is another place just up the road that you should check out first.” He directed me to a “proper” pearl store.

We looked in the showcase and our eyes both fell on the pearl I had always imagined and described.  It was beautiful but it was more money than the one I had seen earlier.

“I am okay with the other one,”  I said to Brian.
“I’m not,” he said.  “You have waited a long time for this pearl.  We are going to do it right.”
“But…”
“Let go of the idea of a plastic pearl, Mona.”  With that the sales person lifted the pearl out of the display and put it around my neck.  It was perfect.

So it is with our Heavenly Father. He is waiting for us to give up the cheap, imitation things in our lives so that he can give us beautiful treasures. Sometimes it is so hard to see what is just up the road but I do believe this one thing: when we are finally able to let go of “it” (maybe it’s a thing, or a unhealthy memory, habit, attitude, or relationship - whatever it is) - God will always give us something better in its place.

Trust, because God is that good.