Mary got it right

Luke 10:38-42
³⁸ As Jesus and his disciples were on their way, he came to a village where a woman named Martha opened her home to him. ³⁹ She had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet listening to what he said. ⁴⁰ But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made. She came to him and asked, “Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!”
⁴¹ “Martha, Martha,” the Lord answered, “you are worried and upset about many things, ⁴² but few things are needed—or indeed only one. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.”
In church recently between drawing a dinosaur for the 10th time and doing a color by number with my little dude I hear Luke 10:38 quoted and it perked my ears up and I thought to myself "Mary got it right". She was not being lazy or shirking her duties & responsibilities, she was simply choosing what is better. And the end of the verse ".... but few things are needed". 
I think I come from a line of Martha's who can't sit down until ALL the work is done. And then when it's done we look around and try to find the little things that are there that bug us and clean those up. So many times I would neglect time with my children to do the dishes or run the sweeper or clean up the yard or garage. I could find a plethora of things to do thinking that as soon as I finish this chore I will sit down with the kids. Then 5 o'clock turns into 6 and 6 turns into 8 and then it's 8:30 and time to get the bedtime routine started. Many nights the chores and the things I thought were important were mundane cleaning or organizing, cleaning up clutter or doing yard work. Things that have no value when it comes to the spiritual welfare of my children. I could be sitting at the Master's feet, listening,, but instead I'm running here and there cleaning and doing chores in which Jesus said "few things are needed". When it comes to work at home or children we must choose children. I'm not saying that we no longer have to do chores or housework but that we should have a daily schedule and stick to it no matter what. It's a three-fold blessing- One you are setting aside a definite time with your kids for their sake, everyday. Two you are not risking running out of time for important things like Bible reading and prayer with them. Three you are conveying importance of things you choose for those times, like Bible reading, prayer, family time, game nights, movie nights and conversation. 
If an evening came to an end and the rug was vacuumed and the windows washed but the kids did not get the Word read to them, I failed. And yes, the many nights that I failed make my heart burn in my chest. Mary got it right, she did not care that the preparations were not under way or the house was not as clean as it should be, she was sitting at Jesus' feet, listening. It's time we take the time to sit as Jesus' feet Bible open or kneel at His feet in prayer just listening to what he has to tell us. Reading to our kids or praying with them at night. And oh, by the way, that's another whole topic about how you pray and speak to your children. The words you use with your children are a huge factor in the development of them as little humans. 
Make a plan. Here are some places to start with getting some Mary plans in the works regarding our kids. Got daughters? They are more fragile than boys. Dads, make plans for a one on one date night with your daughters at least once a month. Make a definite appoint to sit with your daughter every night, no exceptions, while she is in bed and let her talk, listen to what she has to say. Invite yourself in when she's little so you will still be invited in when she's a teenager. Moms, do girly stuff together. Crafts, dolls, sewing and anything else that is a girly thing to do. You have to guide them and help shape them into what little girls are supposed to be. If you don't , society will.
Boys? Make man time for them. Take them on a weekend trip once or twice a year, just dad and the boys. Fishing, camping or a convention about something they are into, a show or someplace they've been wanting to go to that requires a stay overnight or just make it require an overnight stay so you can get up and go out to breakfast. Your sons will only be young once. If we miss it now, it's gone forever. If we want them to have similar interests as ours we better start sharing our passion when they are 2, 3 or 4 and not try to get them interested when they are 16 and society and peer pressure already got them. All this said... be Mary, invest in spiritual things with your kids and your self. All this investment in your kids is listening to the Savior and really sitting and listening, like Mary. 
The Martha in us would want to stop and get everything just right with the house and yard and projects, the work never ends. The Martha in us never stops working. We always find something to get upset about and something to take our time and energy instead of what really needs to be done instead of focusing on the Word and the Lord. 
Mary got it right. I come from a line of Martha's that can't sit down and read if the dishes aren't done and can't play catch with the kids if ALL the work is not done. But Martha worried herself about unimportant things. Things that weren't needed. When we get invested in so much stuff that is not needed we try to cram it in our day and it only causes stress and stress causes a short temper,,,,, time to look at how Mary handled it, back up, sit down and listen. Jesus is waiting to teach if I would only listen. Too often we let the urgent take over what is truly needed. Spending time alone consistently with God and His word. Not once in awhile but consistently daily. As a Dad, a Christian and a husband there is a lot of unneeded things that can crowd out the truly important. With the Lord's help we can stop putting priority on the things that don't matter and focus on sitting at the feet of Jesus, listening, watching, reading and praying. With so many things and so many people vying for our time and our attention it is crucial to make time, prioritize and keep that time at the forefront of every day.
Mary did not stress over the things that 'needed' to be done, but instead sat and listened.

Sit and listen.

Taking care of our bodies

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As humans with a conscience we inherently take care of certain things. We don't dump motor oil in the river, we put most of our trash in the trash can, we never put harmful waste in the woods or a park, we take care of God's earth! Most of us would not think of polluting the environment on purpose. What about our lawn? Having a healthy green lawn is great but it doesn't happen all by itself! We need to feed it. We can grab any bag that says fertilizer. The wrong stuff will actually harm the lawn rather than help it. When we find the right stuff we still need to calculate the correct amount for the square footage we have otherwise we will think we are helping our lawn but in reality we are killing it! 

With all that being true and probably 99% of world population agreeing why then do people take such poor care of there bodies? In Christian circles it can be taboo to talk about eating food because of its known benefits, qualities or its purity. 

1 Corinthians 6:19 '...Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you ....' 

This verse is in the bible in the context of sexual immorality and there is a lot of arguments about using it out of context only negates your point you are trying to make. But in this case just think of this verse, your body, who made your body and if God would tell you the exact same thing in reference to all parts of taking care of your body. There is a fine line between taking care of your body and vanity in my opinion. We can cut out harmful 'foods' from our diets or we can search high and low and buy special food with additional benefits,and its all a matter of our goals and intentions. 

Going back to the motor oil in the river there is no argument that motor oil should never be dumped in the river or the city sewer system and in the same way there are items labeled food that should never pass our lips. 

Take Aspartame for example. Aspartame is an artificial chemical sweetener found in foods and drinks. It is not natural in any sense. The FDA approved this chemical because "all the properties can be broken down by the body". Our bodies can break down news paper too........ There are over 85 different side effects and symptoms directly linked to aspartame starting with dizziness and in some cases death. I don't think anyone ever died from water, broccoli or a chicken wing. 

So aspartame is one 'food' that is pretty serious and it is found in most diet soda and diet drinks. There are many other foods that make me wonder if Jesus were walking the earth if he would eat them. In Jesus day they didn't have all this heavily processed food. No white sugar, white flour etc. there was no packaged food filled with preservatives that would last him all 40 days in the desert. I believe as Christians we should read every food label and base our decision on what's inside. Can we pronounce all the ingredients? Do we know what all the ingredients are? Read all the ingredients, if we don't know what the are or how to pronounce them, put it back. Would we serve it to Jesus if he were with us? Would we give him a diet soda with aspartame or an iced tea with refined white sugar? Would we give him sweet potatoe casserole loaded with sugar and marshmallows? I think he would say no thank you. 

In Genesis 1:29 God said "I give you every seed bearing plant , on the face of the earth, and every tree yielding seed; these are yours for food" then later in Acts 10:13 God told Peter to "kill and eat" referring to all the birds and animals. So we have all fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, animals, birds and fish to eat what more could we ask for. He did not say "take all I have given you and process the goodness out of it and add unnatural chemicals to it and eat it. He said "eat". Heavily processed foods are not good for our bodies, it's a fact. Sugar laden snacks and junk food is not considering your body the Holy Spirit's temple. 

There are so many options out there when it comes to natural healthy foods that it seems insane that people would choose garbage like McDonald's or Tastykakes. 

Some say that you are being phanatical about food if you make the effort to find healthy options, or that you shouldn't choose one food over another because one is the healthier option. That we should eat whatever we want and pray for God to bless it and make it nourishing to our bodies. I don't know about that! We can be specific when we protect every other created thing but not our bodies? The only thing that is created that's a temple of the Holy Spirit? Seems strange. I think people just want to continue to eat the garbage they have always eaten and disregard how God really wants them to eat.

The 'because we've always done it" argument doesn't hold water. Dumping oil in the river is not as appalling as intaking harmful chemicals or seriously processed foods that our bodies were not created to process. 

Eating something because it's natural and healthy is not a human effort. Eating something to heal our body is. We will most likely feel a world of difference if you eat healthy and natural. 

There are so many natural foods available that it's crazy not to take advantage of their availability and goodness! Nuts, seeds, fruits, vegetables etc. and hundreds of varieties!! All natural, all good, all healthy. 

We all have a choice when it comes to the food we choose to eat. It's time to make an effort to eat right. Eat as Jesus would.