Martha turned Mary

Life has been busy these past couple of days. Soccer games, field trips, softball games, yard work, housework, kids schedules in general, going here, running there, selling stuff, paying bills,  updating websites, the list could go on but I'll stop. You get the idea.

Being busy is a medal of honor in today's world it seems like. Someone asks, "Well whatcha' been up to?"  "Man, I have been so busy. We've got this going on and this going on and the response is "Wow, I just don't know how you do it all?!"

Field Trip to the Aquarium

 

Emry and Isla playing soccer this past weekend

Little Miss Olly teaching herself how to sit up  

Busy is good sometimes. It keeps you moving forward looking to the future. Some days when I have a lot planned, I feel good, energetic, and purposeful. Being busy means we are getting stuff done, we are accomplishing our tasks and goals that we have set for ourselves. It feels good to check those to-do's off our list.

Busy is hard sometimes. All you want is a break and there's no end in sight. Its hard to keep up in this fast-paced world we live in. Days seem like they take forever and the only hope you have is that tomorrow is one day closer to the weekend or a day off. You can't help but despise the present because the future with nothing planned looks so much more appealing.

Whatever your busy looks like, it's safe to say it's not easy juggling life.  We have a way of convincing ourselves that our purpose comes through how many things we have on our plate.  If we don't have a lot to do, then we must be missing out on something, we must be falling behind and we can't have that. We've got to stay up to date with what's going on or else our life sort of loses meaning. What would we do if all those things we hold onto so tightly, were to disappear? Would we be able to move on? What would we cling to?

For some the busyness of their lives defines them. If the hustle and bustle were to stop, they would be lost with what to do with themselves, so they do everything in their power to keep moving, to keep adding, to keep juggling.

Martha I was. Busyness consumed me. Busyness was my purpose. I needed something to do constantly that way no one could define me as lazy. My plate was full and that was the way I liked it.

But then something changed. God placed it on my heart to stay home with my little girls. So I went from working mom to stay at home mom.  Granted you don't have less to do just because you are a stay at home mom, but you do have more "free time." (I use this term lightly)

It wasn't long after I started my new adventure that I realized my worth had been placed in how many things I had going on; how good I was at juggling all the things on my plate without letting a single one of them drop. So when my life slowed down a little I felt a void.  There were not enough balls to juggle.  To fill that void, I tried my hardest to come up with things to fill my time. I kept worrying that others would see me not working at a "job" from sunup to sundown and pass judgement.. Perhaps they might use words like worthless and lazy. Or make comments like, "Its a shame, Tori's not doing something better with her life."

Time heals a lot of things and time has helped heal me of my misconceptions.

Mary I am now. I began pursuing Jesus and his truth. I "seated myself at the Lord's feet, and listened to his word."  And may I say how good he has been to me.  I marvel at the work he has done in me and through me and I know now that I "chose the good part."

So always remember to be a Mary, not a Martha.

With love,
Tori