Recently, I tried to burn the house down.
Seriously. I was multitasking watering plants, teaching my kiddos math and making Easy-Mac in the microwave. To be completely transparent, it was the Cracker Barrel brand of Easy Mac. So it was slightly more gourmet with a seasoning packet and breadcrumbs. In any case, I tried to burn the house down with it.
I emptied the bowl of uncooked noodles into the plastic dish, popped it into the microwave and left the room. When I came back to the kitchen I was welcomed by billowing black smoke and toxic fumes. My kids immediately went into “We are going to die!” mode and ran outside into the 20-degree weather while I removed the black melted container of what was going to be lunch. Completely burned. Why? I forgot to add the water. Believe it or not, the words “Just add water” is not just a selling tag line but a needed, important, fire-protecting instruction. So easy and yet in my multitasking life I just neglected it.
We are also given one direction for pretty much all of life… Love the Lord your God with all your heart and love others. It’s repeated several times in the bible. This is the clear instruction to keep our priorities in order and to simplify the entire process of life. And yet, when we don’t follow it, we fail. We cause fires where they don’t belong. We multitask ourselves into a flurry and don’t realize the smoke signals until it’s too late.
I love the story of Mary and Martha in the New Testament. They are two women, sisters, who find out that Jesus and His disciples are coming to their home. So immediately the two go into action. Martha starts cleaning, cooking, preparing… multitasking it all. Totally makes sense to me. Mary on the other hand paused. She followed the command of “Love God, love others,” and when Jesus came she stopped the craziness of trying to have it all together and just sat at the feet of the One who we are called to give attention to. The one direction. Martha was so irritated because having guests is work and there were so many unfinished tasks! Here’s how it goes down in the book of Luke chapter 10…
Martha went to Jesus and asked, “Lord don’t you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!”
“Martha Martha,” Jesus Answered, “You are worried and upset about many things, but few things are needed” — or indeed only one. “Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.”
Indeed, only one thing.
In a world with constant messages of where to spend our time and what to value, we need to remember that there is only one thing, one direction, that is essential – love God, love others It’s that simple… almost as easy as just add water.
