Today’s gospel is one of my favorite readings (and lessons).  I love the story of Martha and Mary and their beautiful relationship with Jesus.  It brings up so many instances in my life where I appropriately and sometimes inappropriately leaned into the role of Martha.

About 20 years ago I was blessed to participate in a CEC (Christians Encounter Christ) weekend for women.  It is a Cursillo-type retreat where my heart was opened even more to Christ.  That experience could certainly fill a reflection or two (or ten!!) but there is a particular part of that related to this gospel for me.  Since the weekend is intended that we focus on our journey to Christ, our meals and snacks etc were taken care of by others.  The women in that role (previous participants volunteering to serve us) lovingly called themselves, Marthas.  They busied themselves with meal preparation and serving, decorating the areas to make every meal unique, and providing snacks and other special treats.  Clearly, they were the very positive aspect of Martha – allowing others to pursue the path while removing day-to-day burdens from that path. A very wonderful memory of the Marthas for that weekend was when one young woman, joyfully called out my name (of course, very formally with Mrs.!!) and said, It’s me, Colleen!”    It was a former neighbor from 28 years earlier when my son was just a toddler.  She and her sisters loved coming over to play with him.  They were such a special family – I loved having them at the house and doing crafts with them and listening to the stories from girls 10-12 years old.   When we moved in 1977, they even came and all had a sleep over at my new home.  As they grew up, we lost track of each other although to this day each of them have a special place in my heart.  It was, indeed, a God-incidence with now one of them being my Martha.  While the entire weekend was a life-changing experience, the memory of Colleen running to me and remembering me still brings tears (of happiness) to my eyes.  A lasting image of a very positive Martha!!

Fast forward to nine years ago when my daughter was expecting her first child.  I was already blessed with four grandchildren from my son, however, when your daughter is having a baby, it is a very special connection.  I assured her that I would take a few weeks of vacation to be there for her and the baby and be her Martha (in my mind to provide the positive caretaking I had received years prior at the Retreat).  I didn’t want to be the overbearing mother rushing to be bossy with the new baby but when I called it being Martha, I pictured nurturing in the most positive way. I apparently totally confused her since my sister’s name is Martha.  My daughter asked me why I wanted to be Auntie Martha!!!  It provided an opportunity to discuss Martha from the Bible, not my sister, and her loving care for others as shown to me years earlier.  When I told my son the story, he had the same reaction, questioning why I wanted to be Auntie Martha.  We still chuckle about that today.  My goal was to provide that loving care that would free my daughter to spend her time with her new baby while I did the routine chores that all families need.  Not to lose sight of the wonders of this new little blessing but rather to remove the obstacles so that my daughter could concentrate on her new family.

I also know that being Martha is not always as positive as these above experiences.  Especially when I was still working, I could lose myself in the mundane day to day chores and forget the wonders of the world.  It was/is so easy to be bogged down by such duties and to miss the miracles in front of oneself as Martha did with Jesus in her home.  The holidays are a time when I will get so wrapped up (no pun intended) in the decorating and preparation, I can fall short in the appreciation of the true meaning of the season.  I think as I age, I am better at that and realizing how much I want to hold on to the memories and not the things.  My appreciation of my Lord and Savior is certainly more center stage than in my youth.  I believe I am more centered although clearly God isn’t done with me yet and I can still learn so much from Mary and practice just sitting at the feet of Jesus and appreciating this extraordinary Gift!!

This song seems appropriate as I place God in the center of my life:
Thank God, I do by Lauren Daigle