As a pastor’s wife and mother of three children, I constantly
raced through a life full of ministry opportunities. As each day progressed, I
went from one Martha-moment of service to another (Luke 10:38-42).
I cared for my immediate family, as well as our extended
family, church family, neighbors, community and our friends around the world. But
at night, when the house settled down, the chores were done, the phone stopped
ringing, and everyone else slept, my focus transformed from Martha to Mary (Psalm 130:6).
It is in these night watches that I experienced the miracle
of His existence within me. Even now that my children are grown and my responsibilities
are greatly diminished, I enjoy these alone times when my soul and spirit quietly
rest in Jesus' presence.
As Saints, we make an intentional effort for our inner being to
continually sit at Jesus’ feet, regardless of how busy we are physically. We thank
Him for our many blessings in spite of living in this sin-cursed world.
We pray for people whom He places on our heart. We praise Him
for being Lord of the universe, as well as our Strong Tower when we are afraid,
and our Refuge on stormy days. His love cascades over our soul like a
waterfall.
We find our comfort under the shadow of His wings. We absorb
the ministry from His Spirit, drinking in the true peace and joy that only He
can provide. Our spirit melds with His Holy Spirit, as we receive Godly direction
and wisdom for our personal guidance.
As our eyes grow heavy, we slip into a silent slumber. We are
already centered in Him, with our spirit totally focused on Him, even as we sleep.
If we happen to wake during the night, we usually have a prayer or a song of
praise running through our mind.
With each new day, we seek His will for our first efforts of
the morning. As Mary, we prepare our body, spirit, and soul (our thoughts,
emotions and choices) to do His will. At times, our duties pull us in several
directions at once.
However, God's Spirit always tells us what to do, and in what
order to accomplish them. Satan’s penchant for distracting us from doing the
Lord’s will is tempting; but we surrender instead to God’s plan for our day
(Psalm 5:8).
Proceeding through each moment as Mary, we listen to His
Spirit’s direction for each new task, which He leads us to accomplish during our
Martha-moments.
Prayer:
Lord Jesus, thank You for being our center, our rock and our shield;
but most of all, thank You for being our Savior (Psalm 28:7, 78:35; Colossians
3:3-4). Thank You for meeting with us in the night watches and for leading us
by Your Spirit moment by moment throughout the day (Psalm 119:148). We find our
fulfillment in the path, which You chose for us before the foundation of time
(Romans 8:29; Ephesians 2:10).
Thought For The Day:
As we stay centered on the true reality of life, by focusing
on Jesus and His Word, we experience the Mary-miracles, which can only come
from a personal relationship with the Living Lord of the universe; His
continual encouragement refreshes our spirit and prepares us for the next
moment in our role as Martha.
