A Year of Sabbaths (Week 32): The Good Part

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Now as they were traveling along, He entered a village; 

and a woman named Martha welcomed Him into her home. 

She had a sister called Mary, who was seated at the Lord’s feet, listening to His word. 

But Martha was distracted with all her preparations; and she came up to Him and said, “Lord, do You not care that my sister has left me to do all the serving alone? Then tell her to help me.” 

But the Lord answered and said to her, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and bothered about so many things; but only one thing is necessary, for Mary has chosen the good part, which shall not be taken away from her.” (Luke 10:38-42)

I was visiting with my wife on Saturday night.  It had been a big day of basketball, painting the first coat of primer on the basement walls, and re-planting the peas that the chickens had dug up and eaten.  (Grr!) I was just beginning to share my plan for Sunday.  After all, there was a list of things that I wanted to accomplish in the afternoon, after church. 

"When was our Sabbath again?" my wife asked. 

"Well," I reasoned, "I was thinking that our Sabbath was watching basketball on Saturday morning and going to church on Sunday morning." (I'm good at taking parts of two days and calling it a whole Sabbath.)  My wife saw through my math skills. 

"Just for the record...so you know...tomorrow...I will not be following any list!"

"Oh, yeah," I said, thinking of Jesus' gentle rebuke of Martha. "Choose the good part." But boy! It was hard to put away my list.

So, we went to sleep and woke up for the two services on Sunday.  The boys were troopers, so we went and ate pizza.  Then, we went and played for a couple of hours at an indoor trampoline park. (I'm still feeling the after affects of all that jumping!) And none of these things were on my list, but it was good... it was humbling watching small children get out of their strollers and start doing flips over my head...but it was good.  I came home too tired to paint.

We finished with our family devo, watched a movie, ate popcorn, and called it a day-a good day; a day that ended up being more than a checklist because someone had reminded me that Sabbath is not about being distracted with all my preparations and then complaining about how busy I am.  Sabbath is taking a day and choosing the only thing that is necessary and the only part that cannot be taken away. Sabbath is taking a day to jump up and down with the boys and sit at the feet of Jesus. Sabbath is taking a day to choose the good part rather than a list.    

Church stopping. Less doing. More being.