No sound was coming from my phone. I wanted to listen to music, but no matter how many times I increased the volume, no sound came from the tiny speaker. Frustrated and clueless as to how to fix it, I did what anyone in my position would do: I handed my phone to my teenager!
Within moments my son handed the finicky device back to me.
“All fixed,” he announced.
“What did you do?” I asked, embarrassed that he had fixed it so quickly. What had I missed?
“You just needed to do a hard reset it,” he explained. “You just had to hold the power and the home buttons at the same time.”
A hard reset.
Two days later, I was at a women’s Bible study where our awesome leader was talking about Martha. We were studying the passage where Martha, frustrated and overwhelmed with her responsibilities, asked Jesus to make her sister, Mary, help her.
Mary had been sitting at Jesus’ feet, while Martha flitted from task to task.
“Jesus, it’s just not fair,” she complained.
“Martha, Martha,” He responded, “You are worry and distracted by many things, but only one thing is needed. Mary has discovered it, and it will not be taken from her.”
Our Bible study leader then said something which illuminated this passage in an entirely new light for me:
“Martha needed a hard reset.”
My ears perked up, the familiar phrase fresh on my mind. Our leader went on,
“Jesus didn’t chastise Martha for serving. Nor did He tell her to sit down like Mary.
No, He simply wanted her to focus on Him.”
As I listened that night, I began to see a picture in my mind:
Martha, stressed-out and weary, leans over Jesus; perhaps refiling His cup while asking Him to get Mary to help her. Jesus turns His face to His hostess. His eyes—the eyes of Love itself—look up at her.
“Martha….”
But Martha’s eyes are scanning the table: who needs a refill? Whose plate is empty? Would it kill my sister to help me???
“Martha.”
She pauses. Looks at Him. Her eyes meet His. And everything stops.
Him.
Jesus.
Savior.
I imagine the very air was charged between their gazes as Martha’s heart was reset.
It is all about Him.
It is all for Him.
Her priorities reorganized. Her purpose restated. Her mission recommissioned.
The power and the home button had been pressed: the power of the One who had gifted her with a servant’s heart, reminded her of her eternal home and purpose.
Then, with her goal clear and her heart reset, she again served. But this time with gladness and joy. With Jesus’ as her focus, she approached her tasks with a new energy.
A hard reset.
In the past, I’ve always identified more with Mary in that story (mainly because I have never considered myself the organized party-planning, hostess extraordinaire type) but a few days ago, God kinda rocked my hidden-Martha self.
I was sitting at my table literally reviewing all the things I had to do and the lack of time in which I had to do them. And I had just been asked to add something else to the list,
And I just couldn’t….
“Lord,” I whined, “I just can’t. I mean, how could I possibly fit this in? Maybe I should quit two things instead of adding one. Lord, it’s just not fair. Can’t someone else do it?”
“Jen, Jen,” I heard in my heart, “You are worried and distracted by many things. But remember what is best. Remember why you are serving. Remember Who you are serving. Remember me.”
I had needed a hard reset. A reminder as to why I was serving and Who I was serving.
Of course, sometimes the right thing is saying no to one more opportunity. But God knows my heart, and He knew that me saying no, in that circumstance, was more about me choosing what was lesser. He wanted me to choose what was better. He wanted me to choose Him, and to trust Him.
A heart reset.
Pressing the power button and home button at the same time.
A refocusing on the source of our power and hope.
Much love,
Jen
