Balance, Martha, Balance – Clean Heart Journal – Week 10

The title of this week’s devotional is Do YOU Need a “Time Out”?

So naturally, I thought it would deal with grown-up temper tantrums. That’s not quite what it was about though. And the take-away for me was about balance.

[Want to join in on the Create in Me a Clean Heart Devotional and Journal? Start here…start where you are, and if you fall off the wagon just pick yourself back up and hop on again!]

Remember the Biblical story of Mary and Martha?

Martha got herself all worked up over all the work that needed to be done and Mary wasn’t helping. Mary was sitting at the feet of Yeshua. HE said she had chosen what was better. I can just imagine how Mary felt about that. I feel that way myself many times.

³⁸ On their way Yeshua and his talmidim came to a village where a woman named Marta welcomed him into her home. ³⁹ She had a sister called Miryam who also sat at the Lord’s feet and heard what he had to say. ⁴⁰ But Marta was busy with all the work to be done; so, going up to him, she said, “Sir, don’t you care that my sister has been leaving me to do all the work by myself?” ⁴¹ However, the Lord answered her, “Marta, Marta, you are fretting and worrying about so many things! ⁴² But there is only one thing that is essential. Miryam has chosen the right thing, and it won’t be taken away from her.” Luke 10:38-42 CJB

I’ve really been working at being more scheduled.

More routine. More orderly. After all, my Creator is that way. So I can really identify with Martha here because I’m working on what I know is important, what I know needs to be done. And then Yeshua says “Oh Martha, don’t fret about the details. Just rest in my presence!” As much as I love the sound of that, and I truly, truly do, it doesn’t feed the kids or make sure everyone has clean underwear.

Moms, we have a mission right?

To love our man and our little people, to create a loving and comfortable home. Some of us have a HUGE mountain to climb because we’ve let clutter and disorganization run amok. So we get motivated and start working and…the man needs something, the kids need something, the pets need something. It is so easy to become frustrated and lose our tempers. I love this piece of advice from the devotional, which really highlighted the word that kept coming to mind as I read this…balance:

Don’t look at these moments that stop you from your “mission of cleanliness”, but as gifts from God. You can choose how you will look at these interruptions and they will be missed opportunities if you decide to get too wrapped up in your list.”

August 19, 2014. BALANCE!! More and more YHWH impresses upon me the need for BALANCE in every area of life. I’ve been out of balance for so many years…and I wonder, have I ever been in balance? It’s not easy getting there.

There is work to be done. There are people to love. There are endless things pulling for my time and attention every day.

What is the answer? Get up earlier. Get what work I can done before the kids get up. Work with them throughout the day when chores need done. Eliminate distractions. Learn to say no. Discipline myself to work quickly. But most importantly, to put YHWH first and listen to the Ruach HaKodesh. Dishes will always be there, daughters and sons will not.

I can not let that be an excuse to not get things done, to not work on improving organization and developing schedules and routines. But when there is a choice to be made on how I spend my time, I must choose the thing that is of eternal importance – loving my family, loving others.

There is a balance there. It is found in the unity between the eternally and temporally important things. Focusing on the eternally important only will tip the scale as will only focusing on the temporal. YHWH knows we have work to do – he said to work six days and rest on the seventh. Yeshua did not dismiss the work Martha was doing as unimportant, rather he was pointing out that in that moment, Mary chose to focus on what was more important. We can never go wrong putting YHWH first.

Are you a Martha or a Mary? What is one area in which you really need more balance?

Clean Heart Journal Posts:

Week One * Week Two * Week Three * Week Four * Week Five * Week Six * Week Seven * Week Eight * Week Nine