Thought for the Day – Wednesday 9th September
‘Martha was preoccupied with her many
tasks; so she came to him and asked, “Lord, doesn’t it matter to you that my
sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to lend a hand!”
“Martha, Martha,” the Lord
answered, “You are fretting and distracted by many things, only one
thing is really important. Mary has chosen that more important thing, and
it will not be taken away from her.’ (Luke 10: 40-42)
What
a frenetic world we live in! Ours is a world where it seems everything has to
be done yesterday, where we are forever ‘chasing our tails’, where we always
seem to have to be somewhere or do something in double quick time. Even though
wise people have created so many labour saving devices since the time of our
grandparents and great grandparents that still doesn’t seem to help us to save
time for we are still part of a society which attempts to cram ever more into
already busy lives.
I
think even during lockdown the frenetic nature of life did not completely
vanish there was still much to do and take care of and post lockdown it seems
even more is required of us, particularly to keep us all safe.
I
am sure the material rewards for some people of living such a frenetic life are
many but I do wonder about the effects of such constant busyness on our health
and I don’t just mean on our physical health but also on our mental health and
spiritual health too and I am sure each of these suffers in some way from such
constant activity and the stress that relentlessness can bring us.
We
just need sometimes to be less like Martha and more like Mary. We need to pause
and ask ourselves what we are doing and why; where we are going and why; is
what we are doing really necessary and what will be the impact to our health of
all this activity and we need to be truly honest with ourselves when we do this
pausing. We need to take time to consider the deeper things of life and reflect
on what actually matters most in life.
If
we fail to do this, if we fail to take time to pause and reflect on the
important things of life, then sadly we might just get to the end of our days
here on earth only to discover that we have frittered those lives away on much
that is just not important, much that is meaningless, much that is just trivia
rather than on those important things of which Jesus speaks which give us life,
that feed our hearts and minds and souls in a very special way.
So,
why not take time today, and indeed every day, to be like Mary, to just pause
and consider and reflect for I am sure in doing so you will feel the benefit of
that time of reflection and it will be life-giving.
Prayer
Loving
Lord,
You told us
that for everything there is a time and we know time is such a precious
commodity, that the clock is always ticking and we also know that we always
seem to be like Martha with a long list of ‘to-do’s’. Lord, slow us down and
simply remind us this day that only one thing is needed, one thing is
important, and that is to be still before you and know that you are God. In
Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.
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