Absolutely exhausted and stretched past my limit, I came to Him at the end of another long day. Mothering a sensitive four year old and a rambunctious one year old, caring for the constant tasks in our home, investing in my marriage by trying to love, serve, and spend time with my husband — not to mention the planning, shopping, appointments, friendships, church, extended familial relationships, and all the other miscellaneous responsibilities that make up my life — had me feeling like too little butter spread over too much bread. Since Christmas, it has been one thing after another: the loss of my dear aunt, virus after ear infection after virus for my littles, missing church due to their illnesses, a variety of appointments, and seeing several loved ones going through trials that I only wish I had the ability to remove… it was just too much, and I was struggling.

I whispered a prayer out of my fatigue, “Lord, I don’t know how to do this. I’m failing them. I need help.”

“Only one thing is needed.” He whispered to my heart.

“Not that again, Lord”, was almost my response. I’d been fighting the conviction of that story for… years. Every time it came up, all I wanted to do was to defend Martha. “Lord, someone had to serve that meal. Your disciples wouldn’t have eaten without Martha’s service. She was only doing what needed to be done. Who else would have done it?”.

Even reading that, the irony is not lost on me that the multiplier of loaves and fishes was in her midst, but Martha probably felt as I often do: I cannot rest. This is up to me. If I don’t do this, nobody else will. It’ll all fall apart without me.

Oh, my foolish pride.

But this time, as the Lord nudged me to the book of Luke, the depletion in my body and my mind was so great that I didn’t even try to fight Him on it. Desperate, I looked up the passage on my phone and read these words:

“While they were traveling, he entered a village, and a woman named Martha welcomed him into her home. She had a sister named Mary, who also sat at the Lord’s feet and was listening to what he said. But Martha was distracted by her many tasks, and she came up and asked, “Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me to serve alone? So tell her to give me a hand.” The Lord  answered her, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and upset about many things, but one thing is necessary.  Mary has made the right choice, and it will not be taken away from her.””
‭‭— Luke‬ ‭10‬:‭38‬-‭42‬, CSB‬‬

It was like a small but forceful schism formed inside me. Something in my flesh was refined in that moment and I could see clearly what I had previously missed.

The result of my exhaustion wasn’t only that I was pouring into my sweet ones. It wasn’t even that my children were so little and demand so much of me. It was that my priorities were misaligned. In rapid succession, I gained clarity on this passage that I simply hadn’t grasped before.

Friend, Martha’s service wasn’t wrong. It wasn’t that her work didn’t need doing. One read of Proverbs clearly teaches us that hard work and discipline are incredibly virtuous and that laziness is a quick road to destruction. Work is a good thing; Martha’s hospitality was a good thing. We have been created and called to do good works. They have been prepared for us (Ephesians 2:10). But then, what was the issue?

Jesus was saying that Martha’s heart needed tending first. Before the dishes were chosen and set out, before the meal was cooked and served, before the wine was poured and distributed, Martha’s heart needed to be filled. Her communion with her Lord was her lifeline — it was the one thing that would fuel her heart to keep serving without experiencing burnout, exhaustion, and resentment — the very feelings we see spew out of her in the passage above. And the very feelings that have spewed out of me in my own service to my family, all because I wasn’t seeking the better portion, either.

So, what was it that wouldn’t be taken from Mary — and what is it that will not be taken from us even when we pour ourselves out in service?

Intimacy with our Maker. Nearness to the Father. Relationship with Christ our Savior. And, all that comes from that: truth, wisdom, peace, clarity, rest, joy, perspective, and strength. We are, “blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavens in Christ” (Ephesians‬ ‭1‬:‭3‬ CSB). “No good thing does He withhold from those who walk uprightly” (Psalm‬ ‭84‬:‭11‬b NASB).‬‬ “He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him over for us all, how will He not also with Him freely give us all things?” (Romans‬ ‭8‬:‭32‬ ‭NASB). “Every good thing given and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shifting shadow” (James‬ ‭1‬:‭17‬ ‭NASB).‬‬ “But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you” (Matthew‬ ‭6‬:‭33‬ ‭NASB). “Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord; seeing that His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness, through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence. For by these He has granted to us His precious and magnificent promises, so that by them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world by lust” (2 Peter‬ ‭1‬:‭2‬-‭4‬ ‭NASB). “That He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with power through His Spirit in the inner man, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; and that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled up to all the fullness of God. Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us, to Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever. Amen” (Ephesians‬ ‭3‬:‭16‬-‭21‬ ‭NASB). “I am the door; if anyone enters through Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture. The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly” (John‬ ‭10‬:‭9‬-‭10‬ ‭NASB). I could go on and on and on with verses and passages that are rich with the depth of how blessed we are in Christ!

This doesn’t mean that we’ll get everything we want in this life. The prosperity gospel is a false gospel (John 16:33, 2 Timothy 3:12). What this means is that the Lord will meet our needs, primarily our spiritual needs, when we are His children; when we have trusted in Christ to forgive and save us. While we will experience troubles in this earthly realm, our souls will overflow with the fruit of the Spirit when we stay connected to Him, the true Vine. And that connection is what Martha desperately needed — what Mary chose — and what I needed, as well.

In all of our busyness, distraction, work, and worries, the remedy to our great need is always, always found in Christ. He is not only the forgiver of our sins, nor simply the sanctifier of our hearts, but also the satisfaction and supplication of our hungry, needy souls. Every weary feeling and each worried thought within us is soothed and calmed by Him alone. It is true, we cannot pour from an empty cup — but only Jesus can be the One to fill it up to overflowing.

Mama, you are worried and upset about many things. I am, too. Our default mode is often one of anxious flitting from task to task and child to child, only to lay our heads on our pillows at the end of the day and breathe out a prayer before our tiredness overtakes us, only to do it all again the next day. This is why we must sit at His feet — we must allow Him to fill us so that we can pour out sweet water to those whom we serve. This is vital, and this will not be taken from us, no matter how much we give nor how much we do.

May we choose the better portion.

Sitting at His feet,

Ali

P.s. This song about Martha has blessed me over and over. I highly recommend a listen!