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Book Review #3 - Having a Mary Heart in a Martha World

April 23rd, 2008

Back to my reviewing stand. I’ve saved the best 2 reviews for last…

Who’s Mary?  And why do I want to be like her?  Allow me to tell you a part of their lives, the part of which Joanna Weaver pens her book:

As Jesus and his disciples were on their way, he came to a village where a woman named Martha opened her home to him. She had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet listening to what he said. 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!”  “Martha, Martha,” the Lord answered, “you are worried and upset about many things, but only one thing is needed. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.” – Luke 10:38-42

(I can picture Jesus saying “Martha, Martha” in Jan’s Brady Bunch tone – like, “Marcia, Marcia, Marcia!”  Everything had to be about her work, in her mind.)  This concept sounds so simple, right?  We should stop and listen to what the Lord has to say, instead of worrying about how clean our kitchens are or what wonderful dish we should prepare for dinner.  Easy as shepherd’s pie?  Not so much, for me at least.

I love Weaver’s subtitle for the book:  “Finding Intimacy with God in the Busyness of Life”.  We all know that life is busy.  As a Mother of preschooler(s), you KNOW life is busy.  But that shouldn’t be our excuse for sitting with our Savior and drinking in every word he speaks to our lives.  The dishes and laundry can wait. The Lord cannot!

One of my favorite chapters in this book is when Weaver illustrates her life as being on a teeter-totter, going up and down and back up and down again.  Many of you have heard this joke: 

“To be is to do.” – Socrates

  “To do is to be.” – Aristotle

“Doo be doo be doo.” – Frank Sinatra

I really think Old Frank had some truth to tell, whether he realized it or not.  And Weaver reinforces this by saying we must find the balance point in our lives between “doing” and “being”.  I hope you’ll pick up her book and find out exactly what she’s talking about.

This book really touched my heart and I hope it will touch yours. 

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