There's a woman in the Gospels I'd have gotten along with great. Her name is Martha, and I want you to notice she gets one of the most relatable scenes in the whole Bible.
"Now as they went on their way, Jesus entered a village. And a woman named Martha welcomed him into her house. And she had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord's feet and listened to his teaching. But Martha was distracted with much serving. And she went up to him and said, 'Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Tell her then to help me.' But the Lord answered her, 'Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things, but one thing is necessary. Mary has chosen the good portion, which will not be taken away from her.'" — Luke 10:38–42
Look at what Martha's doing. She's not off sinning somewhere. She's serving Jesus. In her own house. With her own hands. It's the best yes a person could possibly say, and she's drowning in it. She's so buried in the doing that she ends up accusing the Lord of the universe of not caring, and trying to draft her sister into the same exhaustion.
I know that move. When the doing gets heavy, doers don't put it down. We recruit. And when even that doesn't help, we get resentful at the people sitting down. Must be nice.
Now watch what Jesus does, because this is everything. He doesn't scold the serving. He doesn't say the meal doesn't matter. He looks at his frantic, wounded, resentful friend and He names what's actually underneath the apron:
"Martha, Martha. You are anxious and troubled about many things."
Not busy about many things. Anxious. Jesus reads the label: the one that says HOSTESS, the one that says FAITHFUL, and He gently reads what's printed underneath. And then He says something that would have offended me for most of my life:
"One thing is necessary."
One. For a guy who built his whole identity on doing all the things, that sentence is a wrecking ball. Because Mary — sitting Mary, unproductive Mary, zero-casseroles-in-the-oven Mary — has chosen the good portion. She's not doing anything for Jesus. She's just with Him. Receiving. And Jesus says that's the one thing that won't be taken away.
Everything Martha was producing would be eaten and forgotten by Thursday.
What Mary was receiving, she'd keep forever.
So, what are you watering this week?
This is an excerpt from my book, What Are You Watering?, coming soon.