The Needful Thing

Luke 10:40-42
But Martha was cumbered about much serving, and came to him, and said, Lord, dost thou not care that my sister hath left me to serve alone? Bid her therefore that she help me.
And Jesus answered and said unto her, Martha, Martha, thou are careful and troubled about many things: but one thing is needful: and Mary hath chosen that good part, which shall not be taken away from her.

So, I have a confession to make:  I tend to be a Martha. I come by it honestly. My mom was sick a good part of my growing up years. We didn't know what was causing her problems, but eventually she was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis and spent 30 years confined to a wheelchair with limited use of one hand. As the oldest child in the family, I learned to be responsible. I LIKE to be responsible! I enjoy serving and doing and making a difference in the world, but I often miss “the good part” while I’m busy checking off my To Do list. 

I've thought a lot about that over the years. Marys and Marthas both have a place in the world. There's a time for work and responsibility as well as a time for being fully in the moment, responding wholeheartedly to the people and events around you. I'm pretty sure that there's a Mary-Martha balance somewhere out there and I hope to find it someday.

I had a great object lesson this week that made me think once again about that Mary and Martha struggle. Thursday, we had an unbelievable amount of rainfall in Southern California. It triggered mudslides in Malibu and other areas recently hit by fires. It dumped enough water to turn the flood basins into rivers and fill many streets with water clear up to the curb. It just poured and poured all day long. 

Around noon, we were working in the mission office when about six dripping wet elders walked in. I was knee-deep in generating a list of apartments Don and I would inspect the next day, trying to establish a route that wouldn't have us backtracking all over the mission to find them. I stopped to greet the elders and help them find some cleaning supplies and household items they had come in for, then went right back to my work. 

Sisters Simpson and Rhine "chose the good part." One of the elder's suit coats was absolutely drenched. Sister Simpson took it from him and dried it on a chair next to her space heater. Both sisters cooked up a plan to make hot chocolate for the elders with some paper cups and dry hot chocolate packets they found in the office. After heating a pan of water in the kitchen, they were passing yummy hot chocolate out to the grateful elders within minutes. They had recognized unspoken needs and gone to work. Later that afternoon, when Don and I had to go out in the downpour, Sister Rhine took off her warm boots and absolutely insisted I wear them. Despite my repeated "Oh, I'll be just fine," she wouldn't let me walk out the door without them. We traded shoes. They were a perfect fit and boy, was I ever grateful once we got outside!

I have studied "the pure love of Christ” for a many years, trying to establish a Mary-Martha balance in my life. These good sisters (along with many other dear friends throughout my life) showed me again last week what the pure love of Christ really is. It is turning our hearts to our Savior and doing what He would do in the same circumstance. It is healing and helping and lifting and loving others as He did when He walked the earth. It is taking the time to really see the needs of those around us. It is being humble, kind, gentle, and willing to bear one another's burdens. I'm grateful for the example of the sweet senior missionaries in our office, along with President and Sister Golden who reach out in love to everyone in the mission. I see their examples all the time. And, how grateful I am for Jesus Christ, who lived His life as our perfect example. He truly is the way, the truth, and the life.

Not only can we follow our Savior's own example, we can accept His gift of love to us. Moroni invited us to "pray unto the Father with all the energy of heart, that ye may be filled with this love which he has bestowed upon all who are true followers of his Son, Jesus Christ."  (Moroni 7:48)

Last Sunday night, Dec. 2nd, President Nelson said in his address during the First Presidency Devotional on Temple Square, that the first gift the Savior gives us is the gift of love: "First, Jesus Christ gives the unlimited capacity to love. That includes the capacity to love the unlovable and those who not only do not love you but presently persecute and despitefully use you. With the Savior's help, we can learn to love as He loved. It may require a change of heart - most certainly a softening of our hearts - as we are tutored by the Savior how to really take care of each other. My dear brothers and sisters, we can truly  minister in the Lord's way as we accept His gift of love."                          President Russell M. Nelson

That's my goal this Christmas season....

- Pat -