Stop sweatin' the small stuff!


Am I the only one who thinks Martha gets somewhat of a bad rap whenever the story of “Mary and Martha” is the topic of discussion? If you’ve ever read your Bible, then more than likely you’ve read the story of Mary and Martha, right? If not, here’s the story in a nutshell … it’s about two sisters who welcomed Jesus into their home, Mary sat at Jesus’ feet, while Martha was busy cooking, cleaning and preparing their home….there DONE!;-)  The first thing everyone says when referring to this story is that Martha was just plain wrong! In my opinion, I really don’t think Martha's
intentions were wrong at all. Now before you go jumping down my throat…hear me out…lol! Let’s be honest…it was something that probably needed to be done - I mean come on…she was only trying to be a good hostess for Jesus…right? Don’t lie; you would have probably done the same thing. Who wants to have the most important person in the world visit your home and it not be prepared? Martha may not have been wrong in her intentions, BUT, (and yes, I meant to write caps), Martha’s problem was the fact that she felt no one acknowledged her. She got her feelings hurt because she was busying herself doing the “behind the scenes” work and getting frustrated because she felt as if no one cared…poor Martha. Look, I’m not trying to be sarcastic, but I chuckle to myself, because I have found myself in this very same predicament…doing the “right thing” at the “wrong time”. Martha was so annoyed by the fact that what SHE was doing was not being recognized; she lashed out and tried to belittle what her sister was doing. We should NEVER put someone else down in order to make what we’re doing bigger and more important than it really is. Don’t get me wrong, if Martha had done this at any other time, she probably would have gotten commended. But because something MORE important (Kingdom work) was at hand, what she was doing became secondary. We must be careful when we’re doing “something good”; we don’t look for others to pat us on our backs. Everything we do, we should do it as unto the Lord! When we put it in that perspective, we take ourselves out of the picture, thus taking away the opportunity of getting our feelings hurt. It takes EVERYONE doing their part to make things go. If we get offended because no one is acknowledging OUR part, and get hung up on that, then we’ve defeated the whole purpose. This is exactly what the enemy wants us to do. Guard your hearts ladies! We should thank God that He even gave us a part - no matter how big or small. Remember, it’s His acknowledgement, not man’s that REALLY matters. Martha had mastered “SERVING’ Jesus, but opposite of her sister Mary, she still had a lot to learn about “ENJOYING” Him. Stop getting worked up about the “small stuff” - not getting every little thing perfect, lest you look up one day and life has passed you by and you haven’t even enjoyed it. Be careful and save yourself from your very own “woe is me” pity party, by not always thinking that what is important to us is as important to everyone else. So, with that being said…go get yourself a tall glass of ice tea - sweet that is,(sorry, I’m a southern girl), sit on the front porch…and enjoy…and let that glass of tea be the only thing in your life that’s sweatin’!!! Luke 10:38-42
 
All Rights Reserved copyright© 2012 Michell Pulliam “Prowess and Pearls” Devotionals by Michell Pulliam

4 comments:

  1. Excellent post! We need to learn how to enjoy Jesus , in addition to serving Him.

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    1. Yes, YVG, I so agree...it makes life so much easier! Thanks for stopping by! ;-)

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  2. @ Your Visions...yes, we do need to learn how to balance them both! ;-)
    @ Ashley...thanks so much!;-)

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