Yield Signs

You know, sometimes I am so busy 'doing' life, that I forget, or can even slightly resent my blessings. What I mean here, is that although I make a conscious effort to be thankful for the small and big things, there's times when I am guilty of giving a "heavy sigh" when it comes to managing the blessings.
Perhaps, this is what the lesson was for Martha. If anyone was a human "little red hen", it was Martha. She was a 'get it done' kind of gal. Jesus was coming to her house and I am sure that she had a majorly heavy-duty list of all that she had to accomplish in order to "do a visit with Jesus".

There was the meal to prepare and the house to clean, and the tablecloths to order. If only she had realized that Jesus didn't care about the four-course meal. That really, He was coming to hang out with her. If only she could have taken the same amount of time to figure out how to curb her desire to 'just clean this one more corner', she would have found the rest that she so longed for.

By the time He arrived, Martha was, as they say "in a state". I can just imagine her self-talk. "I'll sure be glad when this visit is over. I am going to finally put my feet up and read a good book. Not that I don't love Jesus. It's just that whenever He shows up, the paparazzi come with Him. He never really lets me know just how many people I have to prepare for. I always feel a little on edge because it could be 13, or it could be 39. I don't think He has a clue how much pressure it puts on me not to be informed. "

Martha just about missed the visit with Jesus because she was so focused on the details. She couldn't see the tea for the teaset. "Excuse me Jesus while I vacuum under your feet .. no no, go ahead Mary, don't trouble yourself...I am HaPPy to carry on here ALL by MYself."

I suppose the message here, especially for us who are the "doing" type, is to deliberately take a step back and think about the real reason for the service. To actually look at the blessing instead of resenting it.

I can think of my own "Martha moments". One was when my daughter was very small. I had gone to all sorts of effort to plan a family birthday party for her. We went to the beach and I provided all the food, and the cake and the rest of the guests just showed up. I was exhausted by the time we packed everything back in the vehicle. I got her into her car seat. I was just about to close the door and she said "Mommy?".
Right away, I sort of huffed "What??????" , thinking to myself, "I cannot deal with one more request for anything from her or anyone else today".
She said "Thanks for the nice party". I almost missed it.

A few weeks ago, there was a party here for 25 of my daughter's closest friends. I asked her to help clean up the house in order to get ready for that many people here. When I arrived home from gathering the supplies, there was still laundry all over the place, and there were dishes on the counter. And I had to deliberately say to myself. Those 25 kids down there don't care. They are here to enjoy the party, not to inspect your housekeeping abilities. From the sounds of it, the party was a smashing success. I almost missed it.

Today was another close call. I was incredibly busy with at least five projects on the go. A co-worker came and told me that a client wished to speak to me "when I had a minute". I sighed and said "I don't have ONE minute today." Then I pulled back and thought, "You know, Marni, your work is about the clients. Just go and see what he wants". So I popped over to him, drew up a chair and said "I hear you wanted to talk to me." He said "yes, I just wanted to tell you, I enjoy your music.". I almost missed it.