A Mary in a Martha World

I am a slob for Christ.

I know what Paul says about being a “fool for Christ.” I completely get that, and I do strive toward that goal, but as I look around my well-lived in house, I would add that in my case, I’m also a slob for our Lord and that’s OK.  

I prefer to read one more page of my Bible than do another load of laundry. I prefer to snuggle in my warm, cozy bed on a weekday morning reading my morning devotional, than jump out of bed and tackle my to-do list. I prefer to sit by Jesus’ feet and stare at His goodness, than be preoccupied with everyday household chores. I realize that I am a Mary in a Martha world.

Many years ago, I stopped most of my magazine subscriptions. They were incredibly expensive, but the main reason I cancelled them, was I couldn’t live with the feeling that I wasn’t measuring up to what those magazine people believed a  beautiful home should look like, and what you should be doing inside that gorgeous abode. If you watch TV long enough, you will leave with that same sense of disappointment in yourself, thanks to those guilt-ridden nagging sessions posing as commercials. I realize now that their standards are impossibly and unrealistically high, that only the very wealthy, or very anal-retentive, can reach.

I live with six kids – seven if you count my husband – and we have clutter, dustbunnies, cobwebs and egad - disorganized shelves! The horror. Actually, I think my husband focuses too much on housework, perhaps rightly so, in order to avoid an invasion of six-legged critters, and we won’t even mention my mother, from whom I did not inherit the white-gloved clean gene. I prefer to take a laissez-faire approach to it. I know there will be always be housework. I also know there won’t always be time to focus on my kids and my faith journey. Before I know it, my kids will be adults and I will be dead. When you’re dead, you can’t exactly read your Bible. In the time that I have on this earth, I want to read, learn, and soak in God’s Word. I want it to become such a part of me, that it’s like a second skin.

So, as I linger in my unmade bed with the mismatched sheets and comforter set, and as I write in my disorganized and chaotic office, where I know where everything is ,but no one else does, I pray and I focus on my daily Scripture readings, Divine Office and uplifting verse of the day.  That leaning Tower of Dirty Laundry will get done eventually – I still have a few pairs of clean underwear left before I get desperate. For now, I will sit at Jesus’ feet, have the better part, and it will not be taken from me (Luke 10:42).