New Year, New You

“Her sister, Mary, sat at the Lord’s feet, listening to what he taught.”
‭‭Luke‬ ‭10:39‬ ‭

Are you gearing up?

For the new year, I mean.

Making lists. Setting goals. Putting away the junk food and buying veggies. Determination in every cell, you are resolving to be a better you – a do over, this 2021 year will be.

What if you took a different approach??

Don’t get me wrong. Goals are excellent things. Determination is an admirable trait. Healthy and clean living is a wonderful aspiration.

But our outward behaviour has only always ever been about the heart.

Change the heart, change the habit. Change the attitude, the thinking, change the behaviour.

So it’s time to pull a Mary.

And not the mama of baby Jesus in the Christmas story, either. This Mary had a busy sister named Martha – the Martha Stewart of the first century. Here was a lady who designed delightful fare for her guests and expended a lot of energy in creating a welcoming and warm home.

She rocked the hors d’ouevres. She nailed the flavour profiles. She plumped every pillow, swept every rug, shined every surface.

But all that work came at a cost.

She wanted it to be perfect.

She expected it to be perfect.

And those expectations, when running full throttle up against the reality of too many guests and not enough Martha to go around, got her tunic in a knot.

Resentment crept in.

Seeing her sister Mary sitting around, listening to the disciples’ intense and sometimes heated conversations, listening to the stories of the Rabbi did her in.

She lost it.

And learned a powerful lesson about doing and being.

Martha was doing. Doing dinner prep. Doing the hostess hustle. Doing more, doing it all.

And coming out wrinkled in the wash.

Mary was being. Being vulnerable. Being real. Being still. Being present.

And getting the lion’s share of peace and contentment and balm for the spirit that we all need as we move forward into what we can’t predict and don’t know how to manage.

New year, new you?

It’s not so much about what you do, how much you strive, as who you choose to spend your time with.

Sit at the feet of Jesus with me?

Father, January is such a great time to start over, to put some key changes in place. May this be the year that we determine to spend more time at Your feet, listening, being still, pondering Your character and teachings and truth. Let this be the motivator that sinks deep into our souls and produces the outward change we have always wanted. Amen.