I believe we all owe Martha an apology. No human was ever created to serve solely as a sermon illustration. Why are we tempted to continually pit Martha against her sister Mary? No one has ever written a book titled, “Don’t be a Peter, be a John.”
But when it came to letting our individual lights shine? I was a 40-watt bulb. Cindy was a chandelier. A deep friendship launched that was to have lasted a lifetime. Or should have.
The following is the gist of a conversation between Gail and Linda Moore, director of by design and herself a pastor’s wife.
These days the word “cellular” is associated mostly with mobile phone technology – but this is not about that! This reflection is about the human body and, more specifically, the trillions of cells in each of us. These microscopic organisms work on our behalf day in and day out. But unlike all the other living things in our lives – like kids or pets – we rarely listen or attend to them until they demand our attention. Why is that?
I have…
I was born in the 1950s after three brothers, and I felt cherished by my mother. She’d tell me the story of how, back then, the babies were taken away and cared for by the nursery staff. She thought she was told she’d had a girl. She told me she didn’t dare ask what sex the baby was, for fear …
Were you a fraidy-cat like me?
As a young Christian woman, I was an introvert with very little confidence, to the point of being timid and afraid of my own shadow – it was truly pitiful. You miss out on so much of life, and most importantly, you miss out on the joy of fulfilling what God prepared in advance for you to do.
Mick Jagger sang “I Can’t Get No Satisfaction” in the early 1960s but several years later wisely sang “You Can’t Always Get What You Want.” The refrain of that song is “You can’t always get what you want, but if you try real hard you just might find that you get what you need.”
Truer words were never spoken! Except …
This is the day that the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad in it! Psalm 118:24
Doesn’t that make you smile; doesn’t that make you reflect on the goodness in your day, the goodness in your life? I can find lots of things that make me glad – good friends, good jobs, a great family, a good juicy hamburger (let’s get real here, you know it, too), and many more things that remind me that the Lord has made many wonderful days for us to rejoice in.
But do we say and feel that so easily on the not-so-good days?
Sunday meant church. My brother and his wife are members of a more conservative Presbyterian church. I attend an Episcopal church that’s not as conservative. But both congregations love Jesus, work at knowing and loving each other and welcoming those outside the church. As a family, we don’t agree on everything, but who does? But we love each other. Period.
However,
There seem to be two different philosophies on housecleaning: the “ongoing” philosophy and the “event” philosophy. Since opposites seem to attract, most households have one person in each philosophical camp. I can still hear my mother saying, “Pick it up!” (that thing, whatever it was, that always escaped the notice of my youthful eyes). I remember my father saying, “Put it back where it belongs.” Clearly, my parents beat the odds; they both lived in the same camp. I’m in the “ongoing” camp now, too.
My husband … not so much. For him, …