Tuesday, March 25, 2008

Daily Meditation Inspiration

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The other day, while reading Fr. John's blog, a part of this post jumped out at me: "If you are a woman, don't try to be perfect clones of Mary the mother of Jesus. She was preserved from original sin; you weren't!


Choose instead Martha or Mary, the sisters of Lazarus of Bethany, depending on whether you are a doer or a dreamer.

In conclusion, be yourself! And if your immediate answer is: I'm not sure I know who I am! then as Margo Channing said in All About Eve: "Hold on tight! It's going to be a bumpy ride" . "



This relates to my striving to be like the Proverbs 31 woman.... she was a balanced combination, I believe of the "doer", Martha, and the "dreamer", Mary. I most definitely have mostly "dreamer Mary" tendencies. I love planning, and it is something I am fairly good at. Give me paper to write lists and ideas on, and I am a happy woman. I look at this picture and I so identify with Mary.
While I am not always at Jesus's feet in Adoration, I do love reading my spiritual blogs and books; and feel that while I am reading them that I am figuratively at His feet, learning more about how He wants me to live. Unfortunately, life being what it is, I am required to be much more of a "doer Martha". And this is something I am not as good at. I would much rather sit and think and plan or read or do some creative thing than settle down to the mundane, practical tasks required for living. Even now, while Busker is napping beside me, rather than taking advantage of having my arms free to clean (although I did take a couple of minutes to remove the bread dough from the breadmachine and set it to rise more in a warm oven), I am instead here - pondering, reading, learning.
I find that I get very easily overwhelmed by the physical aspect of homekeeping. There is just so much to remember and to do. Part of the being overwhelmed is not having a routine set up. I've never yet been able to stick to one. Now whether that means I haven't found one that works well or that I'm simply lazy... well, I don't know that I care to ponder that too much. I have a strong feeling that it's the latter, even with my ADHD clouding the issue.

Well, I should go. I have to run some errands, and I really do have a lot of work to do here in preparation for the weekend (we will be heading out to the LI house to ready it for the first Open House after M's wedding). I will have to dig up the "Martha" hat and do laundry, take King B's suit to the cleaner's, hit the thrift store to see if I can find a nice suit for Buddy (he

outgrew his and should wear one to my friend M's wedding on Saturday), and pack for the weekend. I think I will add in a "Mary" task though, and stop at AC Moore and pick out some sock yarn to try out some of the crocheted sock patterns I found earlier this week. And while I know crocheting does *produce* something and could technically fall under the "Martha" hat,

for me it really does feel more like a "Mary" thing.... as picking out the yarn, choosing the
pattern to follow (and learning how crocheted socks are constructed), and planning when/where to wear the new socks all involve the more "dreamer" parts of "doing". Hmmm, maybe that's a way I can get to develop my "Martha" side more - by incorporating as much of my "Mary"-ness as I can into it!



Blessings to you,


3 comments:

Anonymous said...

As much as I'd like to be a Mary, I think I fall more into the resentful Martha type "Make her help me! Why should I be doing all the work myself?" Have you read "Having A Mary Heart in a Martha World"? It's very good and I think you'd like it.

Judy said...

Thanks, Carrie! I'll have to look into finding that (hopefully at the library - if they've not recinded my card for way overdue books!!).

Anonymous said...

Judy, if you can't get it at the library, let me know. I'll send you my copy.