Busy

By Shannon Ready

I’ve just had one of those crazy weeks, where I was still up doing dishes and washing at 10pm at night and felt like I was running all day. It’s funny how many of us live life at a ‘cracking pace’ these days. Often when I run into a friend down the street or at playgroup and I ask them how things are, I almost always get the response “busy!” I guess part of this has to do with the fact that I (and many of my friends) have young children, but it seems as a society that we are constantly fitting more and more into our lives and can feel as if we are travelling through life at break neck speed, whirling from one task to the next and trying constantly to find new ways to use our time more efficiently just so we can fit more in.

I was reminded of the story of two sisters in the Bible called Mary and Martha. Jesus came to visit them, and whilst Martha was hooning around the house in a frenzy of activity trying to get everything just perfect for His visit, Mary just sat at Jesus feet and drank in every word He said. When Martha went to berate her sister for not helping, Jesus turned and gently rebuked her, telling her that Mary had chosen the better way. I’ve often wondered about this story in practice. Was Martha wrong in trying to serve the Lord by getting Him a nice meal and seeing that everything was ready? After all, in other stories Jesus reproved people for failing to show hospitality. Should we sit around all day reading the Bible and ignore the fact that the washing basket is overflowing, there are dishes on the sink and that our children need to be fed? I don’t think God ever advocates laziness. I think it has more to do with our mindset and motivation. What comes first in our lives, and why do we do what we do? Do we cram our lives with busyness so that we can feel productive, feel in control or feel worthwhile. Are we adrenaline junkies – enjoying the rush that comes with being busy? Do we find it hard to say no, and so end up filling up our lives to overflowing with things that really shouldn’t be there? Or, are we genuinely serving the Lord in everything that we do, with an attitude that everything we have – including time and energy – is His. In some ways, busyness isn’t the issue, putting God first is. When God is at the centre of our lives, it doesn’t matter how busy we are, we can find peace and fulfilment and grace for each day. Let’s just be wary of cluttering our lives up with things that don’t need to be there, so that we squeeze God out.