Pulling A "Mary"

I'm going to tell you a little story, friends. Gather 'round.

"Now it came to pass. . . that they entered into a certain village: and a certain woman named Martha received him into her house.
"And she had a sister called Mary, which also sat at Jesus' feet, and heard his word.
"But Martha was cumbered about much serving, and came unto him, and said, Lord, dost thou not care that my sister hath left me to serve alone? bid her therefore that she help me.
"And Jesus answered and said unto her, Martha, Martha, thou are careful and troubled about many things:
"But one thing is needful: and Mary hath chosen that good part, which shall not be taken away from her."
{Luke 10: 38-42}

{photo source}


I'm not going to go into great detail, but let's just say that our house is scheduled to be done by April 1st. The reason for that is because our interest rate expires on that day. We can get up to a seven day free extension, but after that, we'll be required to pay $300/week to keep it "locked" until our house is finished. 

Everything was going smoothly until it came time to pour the driveway and front steps. As you're all more than aware, Utah went all 'hormonal' on us and decided to rain. And then snow. A lot. On the very days they needed to pour it.

Fabulous.

So, basically, what I'm getting at here is that April 1st is quickly approaching and our house is pretty much at a stand-still as far as "finishing up" is concerned. The carpet and plumbing fixtures are virtually the only remaining things inside that need to be completed. . . so that's looking pretty good. But, for the love of all that's holy, Utah. PLEASE, dude. Get it together.

I should be a weeping, wailing, ulcering mess right now, but for some reason, I just feel peace. I know everything is going to be okay. I know we can do this. That's not to say that the ground will magically shrivel up by next week, allowing them to pour a driveway that won't cave in on itself. . . That's not to say that April 1st will arrive and we'll have the house finished with a pretty bow tied around it. . . But I know we'll be okay in the end. There is always a reason for the way things turn out if we only stop to pay attention.

I've always enjoyed this quote by Helen Keller and it kinda-sorta-mostly applies to this situation:

"When one door of happiness closes, another opens; but often we look so long at the closed door that we do not see the one which has been opened for us." 

. . . . .

As it was with Mary and Martha, there are always going to be a plethora of things to be "careful and troubled" about. That's one thing that is absolutely certain in this life. So the question we need to ask ourselves is whether we're going to pull a "Martha" and get uptight and allow those things to cloud over our blessings and true purpose, or are we going to pull a "Mary" and set aside the stress in order to connect with that which brings lasting happiness and peace?

Martha's heart was in the right place, you know. For starters, she invited Jesus and those with him into her home. She knew who he was. She also knew they were likely hungry and thirsty after traveling, and she was doing her best as a hostess to serve them. I can totally relate to Martha-- she and I are tight. :) I sometimes run myself into the ground trying to have a perfect house and a perfect this and a perfect that. . . to the point where I burden myself with unnecessary stress. The Lord never told us we had to wait until our lives were perfect before we qualified for rest and happiness.

Undoubtedly, Mary had things to worry about, too. She had things that needed to be done. But she chose to put aside those things to partake in the greater good. She chose not to let those things stress her out and make that extraordinarily special moment dull.

I'm going to do my level best to pull a "Mary" at this potentially distressing time in my life. It won't always be easy, and I won't always be good at it. But my blessings FAR outweigh any inconveniences, and most importantly-- what happens, happens. . . and you can bet your bottom that there's a good reason for it.