Balance in Life-- A Challenge Well Met

So, what do you have to do today? My young adult children gave me a belated birthday gift last week… The new iPad.

It was one of those gifts that filled a desire that I would get one “when I grew up”. 

I really liked that gift. I immediately wondered which of the many thousands of apps I needed to make this gift most useful. I got the Bible, EGW books, and then I focused on my to-do list. 

I downloaded gTasks HD for 99 cents, and went to work. I now know exactly how many things to get done – 

72 as of today.

Overwhelming? Not for me. There is comfort in knowing ALL that I have to get done. But is it all? Here’s what I learned today as I put aside the iPad and my list of tasks.

"The Lord answered, 'Martha, Martha, you are fretting and fussing about so many things; but one thing is necessary. The part that Mary has chosen is best; and it shall not be taken away from her.'" Luke 10:41, 42, N.E.B.

The "one thing" that Martha needed was a calm, devotional spirit, a deeper anxiety for knowledge concerning the future, immortal life, and the graces necessary for spiritual advancement. 

She needed less anxiety for the things which pass away, and more for those things which endure forever. Jesus would teach His children to seize every opportunity of gaining that knowledge which will make them wise unto salvation. 
The cause of Christ needs careful, energetic workers. There is a wide field for the Marthas, with their zeal in active religious work. But let them first sit with Mary at the feet of Jesus. Let diligence, promptness, and energy be sanctified by the grace of Christ; then the life will be an unconquerable power for good.  {CC 304.3}

Points for pondering:

1. The more tasks we have to do, the greater the potential for anxiety to get it all done. We are overwhelmed by work.
2. The urgent (perceived or real) tends to eclipse the important. Crisis trumps priority.
3. There is a tendency for us task oriented folks to focus on the leaves and not the tree. Work supersedes mission.
4. There is a need for the power of sanctified work. A blend of diligence and the grace of Christ.

So I conclude that I need to be:

1. Committed to sit at the feet of Jesus. Get into His word for the purpose of a grace filled life.
2. Committed to diligence, promptness and energy in all that I put my hands to do (by others request or my initiation).

He balances us. Will you commit to a blended sanctified work life today? I am. It beats being “careful and troubled about many things”.

Edwin