Each day during the month of March we will be sharing a devotional from a booklet written by Steve Love. Steve is a member of Canton First and a Traumatic Brain Injury survivor. If you would like a complete PDF of this devotional, it can be downloaded here.
Day 16
Luke 10:38-42 (New International Version)
38 As Jesus and his disciples were on their way, he came to a village where a woman named Martha opened her home to him. 39 She had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet listening to what he said. 40 But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made. She came to him and asked, “Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!”
41 “Martha, Martha,” the Lord answered, “you are worried and upset about many things, 42 but only one thing is needed. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.”
Jesus and his disciples came to the home where Martha, Mary and Lazarus lived. Mary sat at Jesus’ feet listening as he talked with his disciples. Martha being a good hostess was distracted by the many preparations she had to make. A meal for at least 15 people required many preparations. Think about those times when you served a holiday meal or one for a large gathering. All the work you did. Now think about doing it without all the modern-day appliances we have at our disposal. So much needed to be done and who was helping Martha? No one. Her sister Mary who normally would help was just sitting in the other room with their guest. Martha was upset and asked Jesus to tell Mary to help her.
How many of us see ourselves in Martha? The many tasks of living, taking care of the home, seeing to the paying of the bills, the list go on and on. There is no end to the problems a family must deal with every day. Add to that list living with a person with a brain injury. No one can prepare for that life. There is a popular misconception that when a person is dismissed from the hospital, they have made a full recovery. We know the truth. Especially for a brain injury survivor, life is far from normal.
So much needs to be done and there no one to help. The pressure builds up, the worry increases; the needs are real and overwhelming. Martha could not handle the pressure of their tasks. She did right to turn to Jesus for help. She told the Lord how he should help meet her needs by telling Mary to help her. Jesus answered, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and upset about many things, but only one thing is needed.” How many can put their name in place of Martha? Jesus told her she only needs one thing in her life to help. She needs to take time out of her life and do what Mary did. She needs to spend time with Jesus, talking with him and listening to him.
We need to spend time with Jesus. When we focus on our tasks, putting all our energy into them, we become overwhelmed. We become like a battery running low and out of power. Soon we do not have the power we need to be able to handle our tasks and our lives. We need to be recharged. Spending time with Jesus is the only way to recharge our heart/mind/soul. When we take the time to spend with Jesus, we will be able to face our problems with His strength instead of our own. We will be able to have a calm in our lives because we have a personal relationship with Jesus. We take the time to talk with him and allow Him time to speak to us too. Then we will have the strength to live life, even one which includes a brain injury.
Pray and thank God for His son Jesus who is with us giving us the ability to face and deal with our problems.
Pray and thank God for being there and for all He has done and is doing on our behalf.
Pray and ask God to recharge our battery given us the power we need to meet the demands of life.