Wednesday’s Reading: Matthew 26:3-19, Mark 14:1-11, Luke 21:37 – 22:6, John 12:1-8
“For she has done a beautiful thing to me.” – Jesus (Matthew 26:10)
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About a six weeks ago, a friend had a dream about me. In it I was busy cleaning and organizing instead of praying. Ouch. First, can I just say that I am grateful to have friends who are willing to share hard things in order to help me follow Jesus more fully. In fact, recently there have been several situations where I’ve been overwhelmed with gratitude that my closest friends are people who won’t just affirm my selfishness or feed my self-pity or talk me out of hard things, but who will constantly point me to Jesus. This is what I need! I have enough voices affirming what my flesh wants.
Because of this dream, I’m becoming more intentional about my tendency to DO DO DO. I know I’m a do-er by nature. I know I’m a Martha. And that’s okay, but I also want to cultivate a Mary heart.
On Monday morning I was so overwhelmed by how much I had to do. I’d been out of town over the weekend, the house was a mess, Easter’s around the corner, I had a dozen people coming for dinner that night, and the week’s calendar was so full. The temptation was strong to skimp on prayer in order to make time for all the tasks. But I kneeled by my bed and asked for His input, His wisdom. Clearly I heard,
“First things first.”
So I did. I had my morning time in the Word. I did my normal prayer walk with a friend, then had a phone prayer date with another friend. Then my kids were invited to spend the afternoon at friend’s house, so I found myself with three hours to myself. This never happens. My kids are usually with me 24-7. And I truly had so much to do so I immediately began planning out how I could maximize my alone-time to accomplish as much as possible.
But as I put Justice down for a nap and kneeled on the floor in the dark to pray, I knew God was inviting me to waste a little time with Him first.
My flesh had to die just a little. There were SO MANY THINGS UNDONE. Company was coming. I had legitimate tasks to complete.
“First things first.”
I couldn’t help but hear Jesus’ words for Martha and for me:
“One thing is necessary…”
What is the first thing?
Worship. Adoration. Being with God.
So I looked at all the undone tasks and told them to be quiet. I curled up on the couch and spent time talking to God, listening to Him through His Word, asking His input, rolling over all the cares back onto Him, where they belong.
It was time well spent.
And wouldn’t you know it, Justice ended up taking a longer-than-usual nap and I had plenty of time to finish all the other tasks.
The significance of this all was not lost on me.
Today in the readings we see the religious leaders gathering at the palace of the high priest to discuss how they can secretly arrest and kill Jesus. We see Judas agreeing to betray Jesus. We see Jesus continuing to teach in the temple. And we see Mary break her alabaster flask and pour out her expensive ointment, anointing Jesus with worship, with love.
Everyone said it was a waste, but Jesus said it was beautiful.
I know this is a busy week. I get that there are so many good things to do. But could you carve out some time today to waste at Jesus’ feet?
The sad reality of ministry is that it’s all too easy to busy ourselves with “ministry” tasks and completely neglect the One behind it all. So today, I invite you:
FOCUS on wasting time with Jesus.
Reflection for today: Look over your calendar and to-do lists for this week and carefully consider whether you can cut out any unnecessary activity. Allow some extra margin, some white space, and purposefully schedule time to do nothing but sit, pray, listen to worship music, read scripture, and talk to God. Give your heart time with Jesus. This is the best possible way to celebrate the fact that He is alive today. Hang with Him today! Thanks for reading.