At the Door of Martha and Mary's House

38 As Jesus and his disciples were on their way, he came to a village where a woman named Martha opened her home to him. 39 She had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet listening to what he said. 40 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!”

41 “Martha, Martha,” the Lord answered, “you are worried and upset about many things, 42 but few things are needed—or indeed only one. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.” Luke 10: 38-42

A few years ago I decided I was not going to make a New Year’s resolution.  Instead, I opted for prayerfully considering a guiding word.  A word that would encompass an ideal goal for the year.  My guiding word for 2017 is surrendering.  The ideal goal is surrendering to God completely.  As I write this, I notice that the word surrendering is, indeed in the progressive form.  You would have to excuse me, but as a humble grammar enthusiast, a verb in the progressive form indicates exactly that, progression…something on-going…not done yet…but progressively moving forward.

The essence of surrendering to God implies just that…something on-going…not yet there, but progressively moving towards the goal.

I know that surrendering to God totally and completely won’t be achieved in one year…but I believe that my job is to never lose faith and to continue striving toward that state of being under the guidance and power of the Holy Spirit.  I think that’s how we train our hearts to be hearts after God´s own.

As I take baby steps in this journey, I´d like to take a look at my two favorite sisters in the Bible, Martha and Mary.  Much has been written about them.  Wonderful lessons have been drawn from the little we know about these two women.  But I think it is appropriate for me to revisit them now since I still have much to learn from them.  So, I´m going to pretend to be another visitor in their house to witness Martha´s impeccable hospitality skills as well as Mary´s enviable free-spirited soul.  Let´s wash our tired and dusty feet at the door and hang out for a few days at their home.  I´m sure it will be an unforgettable treat.