Sitting Down

I am sitting here drinking coffee and watching the snow fall as the She & Him Christmas album plays in the background. My world is calm and quiet and slow.

But it’s not supposed to be like this.

It’s finals week. I should be drinking my third cup of coffee, switching frantically between Facebook, Pinterest, and a Race and Ethnics study guide. My world should be full of distraction and anxiety.

But it’s not, and I won’t pretend that it is.

Sure, I have things to do. I have tests to prepare for, gifts to purchase and wrap, a room to pack up. But, thank God, I have learned am learning the skill of time management (that’s right, it’s a skill, not a gift). I have studied what I need to, so I have time to take a break. I’m not in over my head. I am not sleep-deprived. I am not hurried. But I realize what I am feeling (or not feeling) is not normal.

College culture glorifies busy and celebrates stress. Overwhelmed Tweets in all caps and Instagram pictures of to-do lists serve as badges we can show off to say, “Look how busy I am.” Because busy means responsible, right? Because the more assignments and meetings in my planner the more important I am? I have to prove that I am more stressed out than the person next to me to prove that I am the harder working student?

What the heck is up with that?

Luke 10:38-42 says, “Now as they went on their way, Jesus entered a village. And a woman named Martha welcomed him into her house. And she had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord's feet and listened to his teaching. But Martha was distracted with much serving. And she went up to him and said, ‘Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Tell her then to help me.’ But the Lord answered her, ‘Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things, but one thing is necessary. Mary has chosen the good portion, which will not be taken away from her.’”

Martha was busy. She was “anxious and troubled about many things.” And, in her busyness, she complained.

Mary chose what is good. Close fellowship with the Lord, sitting at Jesus’s feet, was considered to be the greatest possession.

So this finals week, I am trying to be a little less like Martha and a little more like Mary. I want to complain a little less, and sit a little more. And that’s something that Mary chose. She had to choose to sit down instead of let herself be overwhelmed with work.

Lord, help me choose to sit with you this week.