Mary or Martha?

There is a familiar story in the bible about Mary and Martha. Jesus comes to visit them, and Mary collapses at Jesus' feet and spends the time he is there listening to him. Martha, meanwhile, scurries around and makes preparations for him the while time he is visiting. After a while, she comes whining to Jesus about her sister and her lack of help. But Jesus says that Mary is the blessed one who has done what is important. (this is me paraphrasing and I am no biblical scholar ya'll- it's in Luke 10:38 if you want to read the real version).

I awoke this morning at 4am with the desire to read this story. No doubt I struggle with who I should be- Mary or Martha. Obviously I want to be Mary. But if we were all Marys- who would be Martha? Someone has to get all the 'stuff' ready- right? If none of us did the preparations- then how could we possibly have the things done that need done (food, shopping, wrapping, cleaning, cooking, on and on and on)? But in my heart, I know that the 'stuff' is not what is important.

As we rapidly approach this Christmas holiday, it is the desire of my heart to be more like Mary and less like Martha. I have worked hard to prepare physically for what I know needs to be done for this holiday. But now, I will spend my energies preparing mentally for the birth of our savior (after I work today and go to the grocery- that is). And if he were to come to my home, it is my hope that I could brush the dog hair off the sofa for him to sit and collapse at his feet in sheer wonder and amazement. And maybe, I could even offer Him a plate of our homemade cookies (if He gets here before the children eat them all, that is). But I'll order a pizza instead of making one?

I will close this thought with some photos from our season.












The kids are about to explode from all the excitement of Christmas. And this morning, I am too. Two more days.