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Making a "Mary-Kind-of-Choice"by Judy Chappelear"As Jesus and His disciples were on their way, He came to a village where a woman named Martha opened her home to Him. She had a sister called Mary, who sat at the LORD's feet listening to what He said. 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!' ‘Martha, Martha,' the LORD answered, ‘you are worried and upset about many things, but only one thing is needed. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.'" --Luke 10:38-42Most of us are familiar with the passage above; some of us can even quote it. But how many of us actually apply it, daily, to our lives? Jesus was visiting the home of Martha. In my modern mind, I picture Martha in the kitchen trying to get a meal ready and Mary, her sister, in the living room with the others sitting at Jesus' feet enraptured with everything He has to say. Mary has not determined not to help Martha, she is just so interested in what the LORD is saying that she has forgotten to help. Martha begins to feel "taken advantage of." She is getting everything ready, and Mary is not helping at all. I can just imagine what's going through Martha's mind. She begins to get a little loud in the kitchen: slamming cabinet doors, clanging lids on pans, banging plates on the table -- you get the picture; in fact, some of us have probably played this scene more than once. Finally, she's had it! She throws the dish towel down on the counter, walks with determination into the room where Mary is, gets the LORD's attention, and says, "LORD, dost thou not care that my sister did leave me to serve alone? Bid her therefore that she help me." 
It wasn't that Martha didn't love the LORD or that she wasn't interested in what He had to say -- she just felt, at that moment, that she was choosing to do the more important thing. But what was the LORD's response to her? "Martha, Martha, thou are anxious and troubled about many things: but one thing is needful, for Mary hath chosen the good part, which shall not be taken away from her." The LORD was not condemning Martha for what she was doing; after all, these things needed to be done. He was just saying that GOD needs to be the priority.
As we think over our day-to-day lives, is GOD our priority? The Psalmist (119:164) says, "Seven times a day I praise thee...." I realize the number seven may not be an exact number; but, let's use it. If we pray to GOD just at meals, that is three times; then add one prayer in the morning when we start our day and one at night when we drop into bed, that is a total of just five prayers each day. That still leaves two prayers. Unless a crisis hits our lives, do most of us pray to GOD seven times a day? For GOD to become a priority in our lives, we have to do as Daniel did (1:8) and "purpose in our hearts...." GOD does not become a priority without much prayer and effort. Here are some suggestions to help us make a Mary-kind-of-choice and thereby make GOD a priority in our lives:
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