The Most Important Thing in the Room

“But Martha was distracted with much serving.” Luke 10:40 (ESV)

My youngest, JJ, has entered into a whole new world of excitement and discovery- he’s learned to army crawl and can get to pretty much anywhere he sets his little mind to be. We play a new game “Where’s JJ?”, looking for him around our one-story home, a couples times a day. Usually playing, sometimes legitimately trying to find where he snuck off to! He’s always off exercising his new freedom to go to wherever he sets his gaze.

While I’m very proud of his growth, it’s made one activity extremely difficult:

Diaper changes.

With him being my second active boy, I like to think I’m pretty fast with a diaper and a wipe. But not fast enough! Once he sees something more enticing than mama’s face, he’s off! A block, his toy car, rogue sock, dirty Band-Aid that somehow got stuck to the carpet in the last 5 minutes- you name it. If he sees it, he wants to get over there. I’m constantly fighting to roll him back over and get a diaper strap on until finally I reach over to grab whatever is so enticing (or a better alternative to a Band-Aid…) and let him hold it so he’ll hold still. Then he’s finally content to rest still while I bundle him back up and get his clothes back on him.

After I wrestled my 16-pounder for the tenth time tonight, and he laid still with a toy hammer in his hand, God brought the story of Martha to mind.

“Now as they went on their way, Jesus entered a village. And a woman named Martha welcomed him into her house. And she had a sister named Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet and listened to his teaching. But Martha was distracted with much serving.” Luke 10:38-40 (ESV)

Jesus goes on to tell Martha that her sister had chosen to take time for what was most important and valuable.

Martha was too enticed by all that was happening around her to be able to rest listening to the One who gives rest. She missed the most important thing happening in the room because she was distracted by what was calling louder for her attention.

What happens in our own lives when Jesus isn’t the loudest, shiniest thing in the room? Are we willing to sit at His feet and hear Him when distractions are calling out for our attention all around us? Or are we too enticed and start crawling away from our most basic need being met- time at our Savior’s feet.

I don’t want to need Jesus to be the loudest, shiniest thing around me in order for me to choose to rest and start listening to Him. I don’t want to need Him to hand me a toy to hold so I stay around long enough to hear Him.

If we are always waiting for everything around us to be quieter, eventually it’s going to get harder and harder for us to decipher His speaking to us from other voices.

There will always be something to do. There will always be opportunity to be “distracted with much serving”.

Most of the time, there will be something louder calling for our attention. As I sit here, there are dirty dishes piled in the sink, a highchair with, I’m convinced, more food splattered on it than actually made it into my son’s mouth, and my puppy eagerly waiting to go out for her promised walk this evening.

But instead of army crawling our way after the shiniest thing in view- and sitting in our own messes again needing Him to clean us up- will you join me in choosing to take time giving our attention to Jesus, sitting at His feet in the midst of all the other noises?

I know there are days when all we have are the couple of minutes during lunch break, or the kids’ naps, and God honors our true pursuit of Him when we give what we have. But, be cautious not to make God the leftover of your everyday. Because eventually that leftover time will be filled with something shinier in the room.

From one of His children to another,

Christi