It’s no secret that I’m a big fan of cute calendars.  I love the feeling of organization that it brings to my life and find great pleasure in color coordinating what gets written in.  Weird, I know.  I also remember making the claim that I would never be one to live by a calendar and now I often do.  Some weeks though, I find that I’m running out of space to write everything in and get tired just thinking about the week ahead.  Those are the weeks that I’m working off adrenaline and caffeine as I: go to work, go to meetings, eat lunch in the car while I’m running to Target, grab dinner with friends, go to church, return phone calls and text messages e-mails and FB messages, watch my favorite show on DVR because who has time to watch it with commercials, try to hang out with my family, get my hair cut, find time to go for a good walk or run, try to stay disciplined in blogging, and somewhere in there remember to sleep.  I find that I’m typically running just to catch myself and I don’t have kids!  (I hear the schedules get even crazier when you do.)

Tonight, my devotion was on Luke 10:38-42, the story of Martha and Mary.  This is a story that has been taught in Sunday School, Vacation Bible School, and just about every Women’s Bible Study I’ve ever come through.  You’re probably pretty familiar with it too.

Jesus has stopped by the home of his friends; Mary, Martha, and Lazarus.  Martha is busy in the kitchen trying to get everything ready.  I imagine that she had made, at least a mental, list of all the things that needed to be done before dinner was to be served.  Clean the table; pick, clean and wash the vegetables; knead the bread and bake it.  Somewhere in there she was probably going to sweep the floors and be sure to change into her best dress.  I’m betting that she was soon running just to catch herself.

Meanwhile, Mary was just hanging out in the living room, kicking it with Jesus.  If you have siblings like I do, then you fully understand Martha’s frustration with how little Mary was doing to help get things ready for company.  Martha had reached her limit and goes tearing into the living room.  I’m imagining she had her stern look (the kind that your mom can give from across any room and you know it’s time to just stop whatever it is you’re doing) in place and glared at Jesus when she said, ” Lord, doesn’t it bother you that my sister has left me to do all the work by myself? Tell her to come and help me!”

It was a total Godsend that I was in the Contemporary English Version tonight (normally I’m an NIV girl) because the way verses 41 and 42 are worded is what I really needed to hear today.  “Martha, Martha! You are worried and upset about so many things, but only one thing is necessary. Mary has chosen what is best, and it will not be taken away from her.”  I think Jesus was basically telling her to slow down, breathe, and just enjoy the fact that He’s there.  There wasn’t anything necessarily wrong with what Martha had busied herself with, but she hadn’t stopped to be in the midst of what’s best.

I’m so guilty of that!  Don’t get me wrong– I love that my calendar has things like leading the kids at church and eating with friends written in it.  There’s a lot of really good stuff going on in a week.  What I don’t love is all of the other “stuff” that gets crammed into one day and how I then crawl in bed knowing that I have not stopped long enough to genuinely dive into God’s Word and earnestly pray and seek His heart.

We live in a very fast-paced, multi-tasking world, so I’m betting that I’m not the only one who struggles with this.  Where did we get the idea that God’s somehow impressed with our busy schedules?  He really just wants us to slow down, take a breather, kick back and just enjoy being in His presence.

We need to guard with our lives the time we set aside to just be in the presence of the Lord, because the world will take our every second if we’ll let them.  When we’ll commit to doing that, I think we’ll find that it’s a lot easier to know God’s heart.  I have a feeling we’ll soon find ourselves busy following through with the things that He wants to see happen in our day instead.