May 27, 2008 @ 11:42 am | Filed under: Mary & Martha Project,The Solid Rock
There have been days in the past couple of months when I’ve wanted to throw Mary and Martha beneath the bus.
That sounded harsh, didn’t it?
I have a feeling that if any two women would understand that statement, and would agree with it (had there been buses way back then), then surely it would have been these two. Finding that elusive internal balance has always been an issue for women, it seems, for as far back as time goes.
I sat in the Sunday school lesson this past week and listened as we learned about the balance of life. The rise and fall, the lulls and the swells, that life’s ocean carries us on. Things come. Things go. People come. People go. Circumstances are bad. Circumstances are good.
It’s the circle of life, and it’s only in coming full circle that balance is achieved. Good wouldn’t be recognized as ‘good’ if not for the balance of the ‘bad.’ Sweet wouldn’t taste nearly as delectable without the memory of ‘sour.’
When we step back and look through the lens of clarity it’s almost easy to see this external balance at work in our lives, and in the world around us. So I’ve been thinking this morning, are not the internal scales of balance working in much the same way?
So often I think that every segment of who I am must be at work simultaneously. The thinker in me. The spiritual woman in me. The creator in me. The caretaker in me. I expect all of these things, of course, to work in perfect tandem with my roles as mom, wife, friend, writer, student, encourager, leader, granddaughter, sister, Nana, aunt…
I just checked and there is no S for SuperWoman on my chest. (You know what - I don’t even own a cape.)
In Mary & Martha’s defense (since I am the one who brought them into the lives of the women in our church), I have to say that the main thing I’ve learned from our study of them is that this internal balance is not evidenced in a single day. When viewing individual days, there is no balance. Some days are frought with hassles that require very little creativity but a lot of intense care. Other days are nothing but creative ones. Still others will be spent in quiet speculation, only to be followed the next by merriment and a sense that anything is possible.
We aren’t capable of seeing this internal balance at work in our lives. It truly is a matter of waking each morning with one purpose for that day. Lord, direct my thoughts, my path, my life today.
It’s loving Him so much that we seek only His approval. It’s loving ourselves enough to have mercy when we stumble and resolve enough to get right back up and try again. It’s loving others so intently that the frustrations of occasionally being thrown off-balance are virtually undetectable in the light of doing what is right.
I came across the following that was supposedly written by a seventeenth-century nun. It sums up very well both, the truth and the humor, about this life that I’m embracing this morning.
Lord, you know better than I know myself that I am growing older and will someday be old. Keep me from getting talkative, particularly from the fatal habit of thinking that I must say something on every subject and on every occasion.
Release me from craving to straighten out everybody’s affairs. Make me thoughtful, but not moody; helpful, but not bossy. With my vast store of wisdom it seems a pity not to use it all, but you know, Lord, that I want a few friends at the end. Keep my mind from the recital of endless details – give me wings to come to the point.
I ask for grace enough to listen to the tales of others’ pains. Seal my lips on my own aches and pains – they are increasing, and my love of rehearsing them is becoming sweeter as the years go by. Help me endure them with patience.
I dare not ask for improved memory, but for a growing humility and a lessening cocksureness when my memory seems to clash with the memories of others. Teach me the glorious lesson that occasionally it is possible that I may be mistaken.
Keep me reasonably sweet. I do not want to be a saint – some of them are so hard to live with – but a sour old woman is one of the crowning works of the devil.
Give me the ability to see good things in unexpected places, and talents in unexpected people. And give me, O Lord, the grace to tell them so!
And – to that – I will only add these words of my own:
Lord, direct my thoughts today. Direct my pathway. Direct my life. Help me to listen to You, and to You alone.
Help me to do just that – ‘one thing’ – today.
