As I write I am sitting on an airplane on my way to Seattle for my friend, Craig’s, wedding. I like the quiet of the flight. It is an odd sort of silence because it is not perfectly undisturbed as though I were in a room alone, but rather the contained quiet of hundreds of strangers sitting side-by-side. No one talks. There is only the shuffling of shoes, the click clack of an occasional seatbelt buckle and the faint and steady snoring from a man three rows back. I like it most because it gives me time to think, time when I am unreachable, undisturbed by cell phones or emails. I have no responsibility to grocery-shop or do dishes.
I can only sit.
Sitting is a luxury I don’t often have these days. I work long hours on my feet, picking up every shift I can to help fund-raise for the World Race. When I am not working, my time is divided between making bracelets, going to church, youth group, selling my belongings, mailing items out at the post office, doing photo shoots, editing, blogging weekly to keep up with requirements, seeing my parents when I can. Boyfriend. Roommate. Friends. Dog. Sometimes I feel like I am playing an eternal game of “catch up” and I often wonder how I will accomplish it all before July 1st when I leave. The promise of adventure is in the air, though, and it pulses life through my veins, adrenaline propelling me forward.
The biggest struggle right now is not allowing the sweet, still voice of God to be drowned out in all the buzz. I can be a Martha if I’m not careful. I fill my schedule to the brim. I over-commit. I can become so caught up in doing things for God that these things become my focus rather than the Creator Himself. But the truth is, God deserves to be first – before ministry, before missions – because without Him those things are dead.
Now as they went on their way, Jesus entered a village. And a woman named Martha welcomed him into her house. And she had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord's feet and listened to his teaching. But Martha was distracted with much serving. And she went up to him and said, “Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Tell her then to help me.” But the Lord answered her, “Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things, but one thing is necessary. Mary has chosen the good portion, which will not be taken away from her.”
Luke 10:38-42
