Focused On Details

Focused on Details

Martha

Read: Luke 10:41-42

Donna fell into bed, exhausted. What a week this has been! she moaned to herself. Rehearsals with her third-grade class for the special program, parent-teacher conferences after school, and the twins’ science-fair projects she was helping with—on top of her usual running around. If she worked all day tomorrow, she would just be able to finish the preparations for hosting her in-laws’ anniversary celebration on Sunday. As she drifted off to sleep, still mentally checking things off her list, Donna had the vague feeling that she had forgotten something.

Martha was focused on serving a wonderful meal for Jesus, but she had no clue that she had left out the main ingredient. As she appealed to Jesus to make Mary help her with the work, Martha never dreamed that she could be the one in the wrong. Jesus gently chided Martha for being so distracted by all the dinner details. He told her that Mary had chosen the single most important thing—listening to him. Jesus’ words must have gone straight to Martha’s heart as she understood that she had let her service get in the way of simply loving him.

We have more modern conveniences today than Martha had, but we’re still busy. As women’s roles have expanded, so has our stress level. It’s easy to get so caught up in the details of running our homes, nurturing our families, or advancing our careers that we leave God out of our lives. The work we’re doing may be meeting others’ needs, but we pay a price when we neglect our own spiritual well-being. Sometimes it seems that we can’t spare even a few minutes for prayer or reading the Bible, but Jesus’ statement is still true today. We may have to let go of some details, but we’ll find fulfillment only when our main focus is the one thing that truly matters.

[Jesus said,] “There is only one thing worth being concerned about.”

Luke 10:42