Are you a Mary or Martha?
With less than two weeks go until the Chinese New Year holidays, the pressure was building up at work and big deadlines loomed ahead of me. There were back-to-back press events to manage across four cities in Asia and all within a 10-day time frame. Emails were relentlessly flooding my inbox. Also, Chinese New Year and Lent were just around the corner and I was nowhere close to getting prepared for either of them. When it rains, it pours!
Looking at my watch one night, I had a choice to make – stay at home and get through that ever growing checklist of things to do, or drop everything to spend an hour in adoration before the Blessed Sacrament. I decided to keep my appointment with the Lord and spend that one hour with Him instead. Surely, the Prince of Peace would be able to calm me down tonight? So with Bible in hand, I ambled down the road to the Adoration Chapel at the Church of St. Michael.
Overwhelmed by anxiety and stress, I knelt before the Blessed Sacrament. In the stillness of the Adoration Chapel, it was now just the Lord and I. But my mind was in overdrive and I was still mentally working on that checklist of tasks I had to complete before boarding the first of several flights the next week.
‘Forgive me, Lord,’ I whispered. ‘This is another Mary and Martha day. I can’t concentrate. I can’t pray and I’m anxious. Come sit with me, Lord. You take over.’ Mindful of the Lord’s presence, I leaned back and closed my eyes. But where was that gentle and calming voice that I had grown to trust, telling me that everything was going to be ok? Yet, I felt comforted in that little cocoon of peace and soon, my eyelids grew heavy and I felt like I was being lulled to sleep.
Before I knew it, 45 minutes of quiet reverie had passed and I felt a sense of peace returning. I gazed at the Blessed Sacrament before me, soaking in His awesomeness.
‘Thank you, Jesus,’ I prayed and reluctantly got ready to leave. This had to be the best hour of my day so far – and calm had returned.
But the Lord wasn’t quite done with me just yet. As I gazed intently at the monstrance, ‘Luke 10:38’ flashed momentarily before my eyes. Was I dreaming? Reaching for my Bible, my eyes welled up and I fell to my knees once more when I read the first lines of that inspired scripture verse.
It was the story of Mary and Martha.
The Lord wasn’t silent after all – I had to be silent to hear Him.
I learnt three things that night.
One, that no matter how overwhelmed we can feel with our day to day tasks, the Lord remains ever present. He searches for us in the midst of the storms that we face every day. Do we stop to connect spiritually with Him?
Two , Jesus was extremely busy with His ministry but took time to be alone to pray (Luke 5:16, Mark 1:35). We will be richly rewarded with His graces if we stop to do the same. He speaks to our hearts through scripture – but do we stop to listen to Him? Where is God in your day?
Three , for all the times I’ve been ‘Martha’ in this well loved episode in Jesus’ ministry, I now finally understood what it meant to be ‘Mary’. I chose to sit at His feet this night and in the words of our Lord himself, ‘ It is Mary who has chosen the better part, and it is not to be taken from her (Luke 10:42).’ What a grace and a blessing! Praise the Lord!
By Cheryl Sim
With less than two weeks go until the Chinese New Year holidays, the pressure was building up at work and big deadlines loomed ahead of me. There were back-to-back press events to manage across four cities in Asia and all within a 10-day time frame. Emails were relentlessly flooding my inbox. Also, Chinese New Year and Lent were just around the corner and I was nowhere close to getting prepared for either of them. When it rains, it pours!
Looking at my watch one night, I had a choice to make – stay at home and get through that ever growing checklist of things to do, or drop everything to spend an hour in adoration before the Blessed Sacrament. I decided to keep my appointment with the Lord and spend that one hour with Him instead. Surely, the Prince of Peace would be able to calm me down tonight? So with Bible in hand, I ambled down the road to the Adoration Chapel at the Church of St. Michael.
Overwhelmed by anxiety and stress, I knelt before the Blessed Sacrament. In the stillness of the Adoration Chapel, it was now just the Lord and I. But my mind was in overdrive and I was still mentally working on that checklist of tasks I had to complete before boarding the first of several flights the next week.
‘Forgive me, Lord,’ I whispered. ‘This is another Mary and Martha day. I can’t concentrate. I can’t pray and I’m anxious. Come sit with me, Lord. You take over.’ Mindful of the Lord’s presence, I leaned back and closed my eyes. But where was that gentle and calming voice that I had grown to trust, telling me that everything was going to be ok? Yet, I felt comforted in that little cocoon of peace and soon, my eyelids grew heavy and I felt like I was being lulled to sleep.
Before I knew it, 45 minutes of quiet reverie had passed and I felt a sense of peace returning. I gazed at the Blessed Sacrament before me, soaking in His awesomeness.
‘Thank you, Jesus,’ I prayed and reluctantly got ready to leave. This had to be the best hour of my day so far – and calm had returned.
But the Lord wasn’t quite done with me just yet. As I gazed intently at the monstrance, ‘Luke 10:38’ flashed momentarily before my eyes. Was I dreaming? Reaching for my Bible, my eyes welled up and I fell to my knees once more when I read the first lines of that inspired scripture verse.
It was the story of Mary and Martha.
The Lord wasn’t silent after all – I had to be silent to hear Him.
I learnt three things that night.
One, that no matter how overwhelmed we can feel with our day to day tasks, the Lord remains ever present. He searches for us in the midst of the storms that we face every day. Do we stop to connect spiritually with Him?
Two , Jesus was extremely busy with His ministry but took time to be alone to pray (Luke 5:16, Mark 1:35). We will be richly rewarded with His graces if we stop to do the same. He speaks to our hearts through scripture – but do we stop to listen to Him? Where is God in your day?
Three , for all the times I’ve been ‘Martha’ in this well loved episode in Jesus’ ministry, I now finally understood what it meant to be ‘Mary’. I chose to sit at His feet this night and in the words of our Lord himself, ‘ It is Mary who has chosen the better part, and it is not to be taken from her (Luke 10:42).’ What a grace and a blessing! Praise the Lord!
By Cheryl Sim
