which path to travel...

the path of life is seldom without ups, downs...and even...turn-arounds...i find some days i skip along merrily with my hair dancing in the breeze (not really...my hair is much to short...but doesn't it sound good?), while other days i drag my sorry self about as if i'm carrying the weight of the world in my backpack...between the breezy days and the backpack days...are the endless brick-carrying days...which seem to be how i spend the majority of my time...my brick days are the times i purpose to put one foot in front of the other...taking care to do the tasks at hand...i choose on those days to believe that the discipline as well as the drudgery fit into a higher destiny...that the bricks of obedience and follow-through serve a greater purpose than just to give me an aerobic workout...

the problem with transporting bricks is that we are so busy with the lifting and the carrying that we catch only glimpses of the progress...perhaps that is as it was meant to be...lest we become so impressed with our little stack of bricks that we distract ourselves from the higher calling...which is...to add our bricks to the tried-and-true paths laid by those who have gone before us...this task is for our benefit and for those who will follow after us...

after all, there is nothing like a well-ordered, well-lit, well-marked path...

so where is this thought process coming from?? i've been reading about mary of bethany...

mary, sister of martha, seems inseparable from her sibing; each time we read of one sister, we hear of the other...well, almost every time...for instance, remember when the brick path led to their doorway, and the duo entertained Jesus and His disciples in their home? martha felt put upon because while she was saddled with all the chores, mary was seated at Jesus' feet...what a to-do that caused! i mean, folks have been finger-pointing at the sisters ever since...picking sides over who was right and who was wrong...should mary have helped martha prepare for their guests, or should martha have been sitting next to mary at the Savior's feet?

hmmm...i just wonder if they both weren't doing the right thing...perhaps their portrait paints for us two necessary paths that are often women's to walk in: one of physical leadership and service and one of spiritual availability and responsiveness...of course...the challenge is figuring out when to walk each path in life's fullness...

mary seemed certain of her calling in regard to Jesus...we see that her footpath led her repeatedly to His feet...that's where we find her sitting, weeping, kneeling, listening, and ever questioning...life's demands were not about to vie for mary's attention...somehow she sensed her time to be with the Savior was now...Jesus acknowledged her wisdom and affirmed her decisions...how deeply satisfying that must have been...

i want to be a mary...yet i also need to be a martha...she was busy with many things, which is true for most of us...we are called to be responsible for the tasks at hand...yet we long to be spiritually responsive to the Lord...so must we give up one path to follow the other - or is it possible these two paths converge at certain points?

i believe we can pace our race...not easy...but possible...it takes determination to pick up one foot and put it in front of the other without forsaking the sitting-at-His-feet time...

i want to walk a purposed path in hopes that i, too, will know the sweetness of His approval while doing my part to leave a clear path...