More like Mary

All too often, I find myself wrapped up in my huge to-do list. There's all that homework, dance classes, and errands that need to be run. I thought that giving up Facebook for Lent would help me have a little more free time and increase my efficiency, but I haven't really noticed a difference in that. I am still so busy...and it's a problem. Because if you didn't notice, I didn't mention "spending time with God" on my to-do list. I'm lucky if I can check that off a few days during the week, and that's not how it is supposed to be. That should be my number one priority. So I decided to see what the Lord has to say about to-do lists, and hopefully that will help me better arrange mine.

Luke 10:38-42 tells the story of Mary and Martha:
"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 only one thing is needed. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her."

I usually find myself in Martha's shoes. I stress about everything. I get caught up in the details...I am "worried and upset about many things." But oh, how great it must be to be more like Mary!! To sit at the Lord's feet and, as said in The Message, hang on every word he says. Jesus applauds her for not getting wrapped up in the to-do lists. He tells Martha, "there is only One thing worth being concerned about" (NLT). Mary discovered it. Mary mastered Psalm 46:10- "Be still, and know that I am God." I'm not gonna lie, I'm jealous of her. Mary had a to-do list, but Jesus was at the top. He came before anything else for her, and she was rewarded for it.

I'm going to focus on being more like Mary. God needs to be first and foremost in my life. I shouldn't just spend time in the Word "if I finish all of my other homework at a reasonable time." I should spend time in the Word no matter what. Because if God is at the center of my life, if He comes very first, if He is in the driver's seat- everything else will come together according to His plan...and isn't that the best plan to be following? So here begins a priority shift. I want to sit at the Lord's feet, cling to every word he says, be still, and know that He is God.