The One Thing

I've been thinking a lot about the "one thing." I think we all experience some degree of fragmentation in our lives. But I believe we are supposed to work toward cohesion, toward wholeness, toward shalom. Christ came to bring all things back to himself. And so I've been asking myself: Are my days filled with random activities? Am I distracted by whatever is newest and shiniest and most urgent? Or is there a 'one thing' that binds them together?

Jesus had these two friends, and I suspect both of them believed him when he said he came to serve and not to be served. They probably both wanted to be like him. But one of them knew the secret of being fully present. She kept her gaze on Jesus. We don't know what all that meant for her life. And the other took his message of service and painted the town. She became Queen Servant. In her zeal to obey her Lord she turned her gaze from him. She became distracted by her own productivity. By her own obedience.

And Jesus said something like, "Wait a minute. Just stop. The world is not going to fall apart." Later he said something similar to a group of obedient followers at Ephesus. "Remember your first love."

Remember what you are living for in the first place. The one thing. The good portion. Me.

Like you, I have many things on my plate. I teach seven classes at Veritas Classical Academy. I am about to be an aunt for the first time and we have showers to throw and baby gifts to buy. I'm guiding a college girls bible study. Sometimes I wake up in the morning ready to bolt. Oh, yes, I can get pretty frantic. But the one thing. What is this one thing?

Regardless of whether we are intentional about it or not, our actions are bound together even in times of deep fragmentation. Perhaps the binding theme is self-importance or maybe numbness. Maybe we run through the things on our to-do list so that we won't have to really think. And maybe Jesus is whispering to us, have you forgotten me? What is it all for, then?

This morning I woke and sat with my bible. I closed my eyes and saw the actions of my day, the words come out of my mouth, the items on my to do list tied together by an invisible ribbon. And what is that ribbon? It must be nothing less than God's love for me. He has loved me and called me according to his purpose. 

Our work here is not easy work. The farmer who wrestles the soil to get food so that we all can eat. The mother that cleans up children's toys for the millionth time for the sake of order. The teacher who tries to grade fairly and thoughtfully. The student who finishes well. 

And as it is God's will that we work and work with excellence, that we remain faithful in our many callings, the one thing cannot mean turning away from the plow, the papers, the children. Jesus, in admonishing his friend did not mean for her to stop her work. He meant, Do you see me? Do you see me in the dishes, in the toys you pick up, in the soil? 

It must mean staying aware of our Lord and bringing ourselves back to awareness when we find ourselves distracted.  Today I work toward awareness in gratitude. "Thank you God for this student, for this parent who cares enough to ask, for the thrill of learning truth about your world, for this call from an old friend. These are gifts from you, Jesus, and now help me to push back the veil of darkness in the small work you've given me. Your kingdom come."

“Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things, but one thing is necessary. Mary has chosen the good portion, which will not be taken away from her.”