Mary or Martha?

“As Jesus and his disciples were on their way, he came to a village where a woman named Martha opened her home to him. She had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet listening to what he said.

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!”

“Martha, Martha,” the Lord answered, “you are worried and upset about many things, but only one thing is needed. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.” (Luke 10;38-42 NIV)

I’ve always related to Martha in this story. The worker bee. Not able to sit and rest until everything was perfect. I used to mentally beat myself up when I read this passage of scripture. Why couldn’t I be more like Mary? Why did I have to be a stressed out Martha?

Yet, the older I get, the more I am learning to accept the person God has created me to be. As a Choleric/Melancholy, God didn’t create me to be a Mary. I’m not the ‘sit at your feet’ kind of person. I’m the planner, the organizer, the doer.

I’ll never be a Mary. God didn’t design me that way. But I can learn from her example and Jesus’ words. “Mary has chosen what is better.” I’m not a Greek or Hebrew scholar, but to me Jesus wasn’t saying what Martha was doing was wrong. Neither did He say that what Mary was doing was wrong. I think that’s where we Marthas take issue with the Marys of the world. While we’re doing all the work, we tend to get resentful of those that choose to do something else. But we also need to accept the way God created others.

I’m also learning, despite my personality, that God created me to worship Him. And with the personality God has given me comes some challenges like being able to be still enough to hear the voice of God. Challenges of entering into worship or focusing in church instead of making a mental list of all the things I need to accomplish.

My quiet time with the Lord is also challenged. I find it hard to sit quietly (especially in a house full of kids) and focus on reading and praying. Even if I manage to do it, it’s not for very long before my mind tells me to do one thing or another. Recently I’ve taken to reading a devotion book on the elliptical machine and it’s working great! I love multi-tasking and my mind and heart is being pumped with scripture!

So accept you God has made you! Don’t fight it. I’m learning God created me this way to do something great that only I can do. It’s the same for you. Don’t fight it. Embrace it!

For more information on personality types visit: www.oneIshy.com