Tuesday 9th June | Mim Johnson
Readings
Reflection
I am definitely naturally predisposed to be a Martha. And my Martha-ness has come out swinging since lockdown began! Every day I find myself battling against the lie and the distraction that I must work and prepare doubly hard to compensate for the fact that I’m not in the workplace. I genuinely have to train myself to slow down, to sit at the feet of Jesus and simply listen rather than cracking on with the next item on my to-do list. And it’s not that the Marthas love Jesus any less than Marys, but Martha (and often I) falls into the trap that serving Jesus is about how things appear, how good we are at serving, and how much work we do. But Jesus brings a hopeful message - one that is so counter-cultural that it is still radical even today - to stop fussing over things that are not really, truly needed because Jesus is the only thing we need.
There are two books that I’ve read in lockdown which speak into this. The first is John Mark Comer’s The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry which encourages us to slow down and reconnect with Jesus. The second is Karl Martin’s Lead. In this book, Karl writes two equations which hugely convicted me. He says that our society is driven by: effort + skill = success. But Jesus teaches that we should be driven by: abiding + pruning = fruiting. The purpose of our life is not to be successful in the eyes of the world; it is to bear fruit for the Kingdom of God. And Mary gets it. She is not hurried. She is not striving. She is abiding and listening to Jesus and through that she will be pruned and shaped by him so that she can bear fruit.
If I’m being totally honest, I have even felt pressure to rest. The rhetoric in my social bubble seems to be ‘lockdown is an amazing opportunity to slow down and work on our spiritual disciplines!’ And it definitely is. But for a while there, it felt like everyone else was getting it right and I just kept getting it wrong by overworking myself every day, despite my best efforts to shut the laptop screen. Rest was becoming an item on my to do list, a task to complete so that I could obey God and get things right. But I’m thankful that my God is a God who sees me and meets where I am; he cares about me, prunes me and shapes me each day so that I slowly learn to take the narrow path and abide in him.
Prayers
Jesus,
I’m sorry for when I have been striving and distracted by preparations to be made and work to be done. Thank you that you are not a God of hurry and you are not a God of striving, but you are a God who loves me, abides with me and knows the best for me. Fill me with your Holy Spirit and help me to remember every day that you are the only thing I need. Help me to abide in you.
Amen.
Collect
Almighty God,
Who filled the heart of Columba
With the joy of the Holy Spirit
And with deep love for those in his care:
May your pilgrim people follow him,
Strong in faith, sustained by hope,
And one in the love that binds us to you;
Through Jesus Christ our Lord
Who is alive and reigns with you,
In the unity of the Holy Spirit,
One God, now and for ever.
Amen.
