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evotionals |
Who's In Charge?
"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 (Luke 10:40 NIV).
You might say that Norma Farber's wonderful poem, "The Queens Came Late", changed my life. (see http://www.momsview.com/discus/messages/74/41516.html) It's about several royal queens who want to see the newborn Christ child. They leave their busy lives behind in order to see this marvellous sight.
They made it over for a quick visit but could only stay a few minutes. Common sense rushed in. After all, they had pages full of to-do-lists, piles of laundry, uncooked dinners, business meetings and children.
That's why they brought Mary a clean dress and a pot of soup. They sang her a song too. (I hope it really was a song and not a to-do-list!)
A child wants to play at the beach. I need to do a load of wash. My friend hopes to visit over a leisurely lunch. I postpone her and do errands. Hubby wants to spend a quiet evening together. I'm already trying to balance a late return from work with two volunteer meetings.
Of course that was then and this is now. We are going to retire. Oh the time we will have on our hands! We'll likely be bored. What to do, what to do with all that time?
And we retire and then…
A grandchild wants to play at the beach. I need to do a load of wash, a friend want to visit but I…
and so it goes.
Like Martha, I complained about unreasonable demands on my time until it finally dawned on me. I am the one in charge of my list. I can say no.
I've slashed, delegated and eliminated. Those newly created blank spaces now list the really important things I've been waiting to do all my life. After all, aren't they what make life worth living?
© Brenda Wood—Autumn 2010
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