Luke 10:38-42 (NIV)
At the Home of Martha and Mary
38 As Jesus and his disciples were on their way, he came to a village where a woman named Martha opened her home to him. 39 She had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet listening to what he said. 40 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!” 41 “Martha, Martha,” the Lord answered, “you are worried and upset about many things, 42 but few things are needed—or indeed only one.[a] Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.”
Each day I find myself praying for my girls. I pray for typical things that most moms probably pray for; health, happiness and for obedience! Yes, constant obedience. :) But, I also pray for the two of them as sisters and their relationship with one another. I pray that they grow up to be each others biggest fans. I pray that through life's ups and downs, trials and triumphs, victories and defeats, they will be there for one another. I want them to cheer each other on and to build each other up (1 Thessalonians 5:11). Today I was cleaning up around the house, my two girls were under my heels almost the whole time, making a bigger mess than there was when we started cleaning. I got lost in my chores and noticed they were out of sight. I stopped and listened and heard Anna talking to her sister. Normally, Macy gets very annoyed over Anna's "helpfulness" and I hear grunts and groans of resistance. Ha! But, today was one of the good days where Anna was truly being helpful and not bossy as she can be at times. They sat there on Anna's bed reading books together. At first I just snuck my phone around the door frame so they wouldn't stop their sweet time with one another. But, they didn't notice so I just walked in and kept documenting the sweet memory.
I also sat this evening thinking about the relationships of sisters and how I have been trying to teach the girls to be for one another and the story of Mary and Martha came to mind. The story has been told over and over to me at church and the main take away is always that we need to to put aside our business and put God first. And, that is a good, true point of the story. But I also see the two sisters as how sometimes sisters can be; against each other. Here is Martha, planning this awesome meal for Jesus. She works hard and wants everything to be perfect. She might even enjoy the fuss and party planning stress a little bit. I can see Mary as the "entertainer" who can't wait to spend time with company. She looks out the window waiting for Jesus and almost can't contain her excitement. I can hear Martha telling her to come help and asking doesn't she care about preparing everything for Jesus? There is tension between the two sisters, between the two personalities. Jesus finally arrives and Mary is sitting down and enjoying The Kings company. Martha is still working hard, making sure everything is perfect. I think her intentions were good; she wanted to please Jesus. Jesus stops her and tells her to come and stop worrying about "many things." There is only one thing that is needed and that is Him.
In all of the hustle and bustle, no matter what is happening in life for my two girls, no matter what party there is to plan, what next milestone there is to reach, rather they enjoy the same thing or different things, I pray that they put Jesus first. I will tell them the story of Martha and Mary and I will tell them to look past any differences they have, any frustrations they have with one another, and to put Jesus first and then everything else will fall into focus and they can be there for one another instead of frustrated and against each other. For when Jesus is first then there is no room to worry or be bothered over all the other "many things" At the school I am teaching at this year the theme for the year is, "As God is for us, we are for each other." And, we talk to the students what this means and how we need to be there for one another as God is there for us. I pray that I am able to show my girls how to be for other people and especially in our family. My prayer is for them to come to know Jesus and to grow in a relationship with Him. I pray they put Him first and come to love one another and be there for each other and love each other through their love of Jesus.
