Mary and Martha

I am completely lazy. Given enough time alone, I would probably not leave the house or brush my teeth or bathe or do much besides watch TV. And it wouldn't be educational TV. It'd be the really bad stuff, the kind of stuff where you find out which actress is getting divorced or which model was recently arrested. You know, quality programming.

I have to confess that I've gotten a lot better about this laziness, and, lately, I don't have the least interest in watching celebrity news. I'm also happy to report that I make at least a passing attempt at hygeine--both dental and body. But, once you've been a lazy person, you always sort of see yourself as a lazy person, and you always know that you have the capacity for extreme sloth. And, the thing is, I'd been kind of lazy even as a kid. So, in Sunday School when we learned the Bible story of Mary and Martha, I always associated more with Mary.

In case you don't remember the story, Mary and Martha were two sisters who had Jesus over to their house. Martha was in a tizzy, making sure everything was spotless and perfect, while Mary sat around listening to Jesus talk. Well, Martha got her panties in a bunch about that, and she asked Jesus to tell Mary to help with the preparations. But, Jesus didn't do that. Instead, He told Martha that she should be more like her sister and that she should be spending her time listening to Him. Hearing that story, I knew right then that I liked both Jesus and Mary. I also knew that Martha was absolutely no fun and that she and I would not be friends.

Personally, I think neat freaks all identify with Martha, and slobs like me (the people with unidentifiable stuff in their refrigerators) identify with Mary. But, the thing is, I'm not sure the difference between Mary-people and Martha-people is so easy to identify as we might think.

You see, I don't spend all my time making my house look perfect, but there are plenty of things that I do that take away from time spent just getting to know God. Sometimes it's hard to figure out what those things are. For instance, I read tons of books. I'm sort of like a book addict, and, lately, most of the books have been works that talk about God, specifically about knowing God. The truth is, I've enjoyed these books very much, and they've helped me to learn a lot. They've all helped me to come to some understandings about God and faith and spirituality that I wouldn't have come to had it not been for reading them.

However, sometimes I get really wrapped up in reading, so much so that, even though I'm reading a book about getting to know God, I'm not actually getting to know God. Strange, right? But, the problem is, I can't get to know God or anyone else, for that matter, just by reading about Him, because knowing God doesn't mean just knowing about Him or knowing how another person has gotten to know Him. Knowing God means taking the time to really get to know Him, to pray to Him, to seek His answers to our questions.

Obviously, there's nothing wrong with reading books about God, but we need to remember not to lose God among the pages of the book, not to let our reading of the book serve as a replacement for getting to know God. That said, we can't forego all activities, because we still need to connect with others and to expand our understanding of God and His will for our lives by looking to others for guidance. We still need to make cookies for Bible Study, brush up on our apologetics, serve on church committees. And we really, really must keep our houses clean. Remember, God is a God of order. So, you're not going to find Him while you're living in a dump.