Balance

I've been struggling the past few days with abandoning Martha and embracing Mary. How does a person just quit being who they have been for so long? As I've gone about my day thinking and praying over this, I've realized that it is just as wrong to be only Mary as it is to be only Martha. Didn't God give me a wonderful husband and 2 adorable daughters to love and care for? Didn't He give me 2 bathrooms with toilets and showers that need to be cleaned? Didn't He give me 2 bedrooms with sheets that need to be washed? Didn't He give me a kitchen to cook meals? Didn't He give me a living room with carpet to be vacuumed and a dining room with a table to be wiped? Didn't He give us the clothes we wear that need to be washed, dried, folded, and put away? How then could I justify sitting and studying the Word 24/7? I can't. I cannot be only Mary.

If it is wrong to be only Mary or only Martha, the struggle then becomes how to balance the two. Again, I struggled. Where do I learn how to be balanced? When I took this question to God would you believe that He didn't laugh in my face at the ridiculousness of it? He simply pointed me to His Word. Duh!!!

He led me to Proverbs 31:10-31. I know this is a very studied passage of Scripture and that there are probably many books written on the subject. But He did not lead to me to yet another study guide. He led me to the Scriptures themselves. He showed me that this is what His Word has to say about the ideal woman. I began to realize that if she is the ideal woman, she must be the perfect balance of Mary and Martha. How I long to be like her!

And so begins my study of Proverbs 31. A verse-by-verse look at what God Himself desires me to be.