"As they went on their way, he entered a village, and a woman named Martha received him into her house, and she had a sister called Mary who sat at the Lords feet and listened to his teaching, but Martha was distracted with much serving, and she went 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're anxious and troubled about many things. One thing is needful. Mary has the good portion, which shall not be taken away from her.”
Luke 10:38-42

This is a really interesting passage, because Martha thought she was doing a good thing, right? She was serving the Lord, and working very, very hard. Mary however, was just sitting at the feet of Jesus listening to him, experiencing him. I think that we have this society that tells us that we only have as much value as we provide. Like, our value is found in what we accomplish; the work that we do. Martha felt like she needed to work, or to serve, or she was so focused on what had to get done, that she totally lost track of the fact that Jesus was right there in her house. She wanted to serve him, but she also was not present to him.

I think that whether you're involved in ministry, or you're involved in mission work, or you're just volunteering for something, are we being totally present to the moment? Or even present to the Lord? It is good to do work, it is good to do service for the Lord, and for the people of the Lord, but not at the risk of losing the moment. If we are not able to be present to the moment, because we're so focused on the work, then we are really losing sight of what matters.

Are we so caught up in all of the ministry that we have to do that we're forgetting to pray? Right? Are we so caught up in our work that we forget to be present to our family? Today's practical take away is, be really conscious of where your mind is at, no matter what you're doing, where's your mind at? If you're at home with your family, is all you're doing working? Or, are you spending time with them loving them?

There's a guy called Mathew Kelly who refers to this as carefree timelessness. It's this idea that true relationships are built from carefree timelessness. Are we spending carefree timelessness with the Lord, or even with our friends, or even with our family? Find opportunities to spend carefree timelessness where you're not paying attention to your phone, you're not paying attention to the clock, and you're just fully present to Jesus, or to your family members, or to your friends.

Lets pray.

Lord thank you for the opportunity to be reminded that you did not create us solely to be workers, but really to experience love, and to share that love with other. Help us to be mindful of your presence in our lives, and help us to be mindful of everyone around us Lord, our loved ones, our friends, or even our strangers, the people that we encounter throughout the day. Help us to be fully present, and we pray all of this in the name of the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit, Amen.

Your brother,

Nick De La Torre