Cumbered About
“Mom, ya gotta come down and see the fort we made. It’s really neat!” my son heralded to me as I finished up the dishes and eyed the load of ironing neatly folded and stacked on the table, waiting for my attention. School lessons for the day had been set aside and I now needed to turn my attention to the household chores. As a homeschool mom of nine, there just wasn’t enough hours in a day to do ALL that needed to be done! Feeling “stretched to the limit” seemed to be my constant state of motion.
“OK, honey”, I replied, “just let me finish up these dishes and I’ll be right down”.
To my shame I felt bothered with one more thing to do. Didn’t I just give my children the greater part of my day by homeschooling them, seeing to their academic needs? And now they are still begging for my attention.
I felt myself getting “rattled”, slightly “unnerved”, as I thought, “How much more can I spread myself? There is so much to do and only one ME!” I looked up at the clock and saw that my husband would be home in only one hour. And I still hadn’t started dinner. (No, I am not one of those who has time to prepare a month of meals in advance).
My just-turned eleven year old trotted back down the basement steps to rejoin his nine year old sister and seven year old brother. I pushed the laundry aside, moving it to another location so as not to remind me, and then hurriedly started to fry up meat for dinner. All was quiet as the younger children continued to expand their fort on the level below. My husband arrived home shortly thereafter, dinner was eaten and baths were started.
Later that night, after the children were all in bed, I took a load of laundry down to the basement. As I turned the corner at the bottom of the steps, I saw “the fort”, a series of pup tents and assorted blankets, all interconnected and containing various “rooms” of make-believe furniture. I suddenly felt a “pain” in my heart, one of guilt, sadness and procrastination. It was a pain of having “missed out”.
I remembered that I had told my son, “I’ll be right there”, but had never followed through. In essence, I had lied and had just put him off. Yes, the dishes were done, dinner had been on time, and even the ironing had somehow been taken care of. But right now, all that didn’t matter. I suddenly realized that I had missed out on the greatest part – the reason that I was a “stay-at-home” mom –MY CHILDREN!
In a way, I wanted to run upstairs and wake up my little ones saying, “C’mon, show me your fort!” But it was too late. I had missed my opportunity!
As I lay in bed that night, feeling burdened for my misplaced priorities, the parable of Mary and Martha came to mind (Luke 10:38-42). Martha was evidently a very busy bee, rushing here, rushing there, doing this or that, hospitable and industrious. The Bible tells us that when Jesus came to town, Martha was the one who “went and met him” (John 11:20); she was the person who “received him into her house” (Luke 10:38); and she was the woman who “served” (John 12:2).
In contrast, her sister, Mary, “sat still in the house” (John 11:20), “sat at Jesus feet and heard his word” (Luke 10:39), and she “anointed the feet of Jesus and wiped his feet with her hair” (John 12:3).
How like Martha I felt! Too easily distracted by “other things” – pursuits, chores, household jobs – that, without difficulty, could direct my attention from what “really mattered”! I, too, often found myself “cumbered about”, struggling with prioritizing that of importance and eternal value (the unseen) with the trivial, everyday, earthly chores (the seen). Although Martha DID sit at Jesus feet with her sister, Mary, and heard his word ALSO (Luke 10:39), it seems that she wasn’t always “totally focused”. She allowed other thoughts to “trouble her” and “crowd out” the blessings that could have been hers.
Jesus recognized Martha’s struggles. And He still loved her. “Now Jesus LOVED MARTHA, and her sister, and Lazarus” (John 11:5). In fact, on one occasion, as He was a guest in their house, He quietly observed Martha hustling and bustling, as she served the guests. Martha, obviously feeling that she was the “only one doing anything” (she was “cumbered about much serving” –Luke 10:40a), and seeing her sister, Mary “just” sitting around talking with Jesus while there was much work to be done getting dinner ready, got quite disturbed. In her frustration and feelings of overload, she said to Jesus, “Lord, dost thou not care that my sister hath left me to serve alone? Bid her therefore that she help me” (Luke 10:40b).
I can almost picture Jesus, sitting at the table, relaxed, with a caring smile on His face, His kind, loving eyes staring back at Martha’s frenzied countenance as He gently and lovingly replies, “Martha, Martha, thou art careful and troubled about many things”. Twice He says her name, as if in an effort to gently get her attention and calm her down. He recognizes that her intentions are good, yet He is lovingly about to tell her that her priorities are “out of whack”.
Jesus continues, “But one thing is NEEDFUL”. He carefully sets her up and warns her to listen intently to what He is about to say. Jesus knows that there are many “important” things in life that cry out for our attention. However, we must be careful that they don’t “crowd out” the essential, that which is necessary for our very existence, that keeps us functioning as a child of God and makes life meaningful, that ONE needful thing that Mary had chosen over serving, that “good part, which shall not be taken away from her” (Luke 10:42) – time with the Savior to enjoy His presence and His blessings!
My children ARE a sign of God’s blessings to me. “Lo, children are a heritage of the Lord; and the fruit of the womb is HIS reward” (Psalm 127:3). I CANNOT allow the “good parts” to slip away, as I give into the temptation to be “cumbered about”. I need to learn to balance my Martha personality with my desire to have a Mary mentality.
My children are growing up so fast! Hadn’t I already witnessed this with my three oldest graduating from high school, and then, two of them graduate from college? I should be rejoicing in the fact that I have another chance to enjoy the precious moments that passed too quickly with my older children. While most women my age are going through “empty nest”, I have the blessed opportunity for a “second time around”. I need to praise the Lord for feelings of guilt and burden when I “mess up”. Lost sleep should be taken as a sign that Jesus loves me enough to “gently rebuke” me, like Martha, to get my priorities straightened out and my focus on the “needful”. Lord willing, if God gives me a tomorrow, I will be more attentive to His blessings, so as to decrease the number of “missed opportunities”.
"Father, forgive me for misplaced priorities, for getting encumbered, for overlooking your blessings that are always before me. Thank you for loving me enough, in spite of my faults, to gently call my name and redirect my focus back onto that which is needful - the little souls tugging at my heartstrings for more than just homeschooling!"
