“The Master said, “Martha, dear Martha, you’re fussing far too much and getting yourself worked up over nothing. One thing only is essential, and Mary has chosen it—it’s the main course, and won’t be taken from her.”” Luke? ?10:41-42?
I am far too often Martha. I fuss. I worry. I get worked up when things aren’t happening or moving along. Since arriving in Costa Rica, I have been introduced to the word “listo” which means ready, or lets go! And in my head, I said to myself, I could used that phase all the time because I’m always ready.
Ready to go, ready to eat, ready for the next thing, just ready all the time. Which I don’t think is a completely horrible trait. I’m extremely punctual. But all to often it does get the best of me. It has potential to allow me to miss “the point” in situations. So, as I sit here over breakfast listening to the quiet rain fall, I realized that maybe this month or for the rest of my time in Central America, I’m called to not be always in a spirit of readiness. The thought came to mind that maybe I should be willing to be ready in the opposite way. Maybe I just need to be ready to wait, or ready to just be still. In a sense ready to not be ready. This is a lesson I feel I’m being called into.
I have been shown incredible intentionality since arriving in Costa Rica. It is very refreshing. Intentionally is something that I strive to be better at. It’s also something that I’m not used to. Within the first day of arriving, our host talked with my whole team one afternoon encouraging us all to stay awake as we were fighting hardcore jet lag. And as he poured us coffee and talked to us. I already felt myself getting extremely antsy. I was ready to go. My body was telling me” listo”, Let’s go! Might have also been the amazing Costa Rican coffee he gave us that was doing wonders in my body. But still. I was not only fighting jet lag, I was fighting to sit and just be. I recognized this and was frustrated with myself. But also thankful that I recognized this now and not at the end of the month.
So what am I going to do? I’m going to pray and ask the Lord to instill in me a spirit of “listo” for whatever he has in store for me. To help me slow down. Learning how to be ready to wait, ready to listen, ready to be still. I hope this month is a chance for me to learn how to be ready in a different sense than I started out in. Listo, not listo!
-hw
