The Better Part

Posted Apr 2, 02:45 PM by Kay Camenisch

Robert has been gone for nine days. He’s been seeking the Lord in the Northwoods of Michigan with eleven other guys. In spite of the fact that one of them got the chicken pox the first day they were there, they’ve enjoyed times of studying, sharing, praying, singing, and hiking in virgin forests. God has been faithful and has met them in a special way. One day as we hung up from a brief phone call, I said, “God bless your day.”

Robert said, “If He blessed it any more, I think I would explode.” They had had a wonderful morning in the presence of our Holy God.

I haven’t experienced that kind of blessing, but Lord has also been faithful to me. I’ve missed Robert, but have had a full, productive week. This is the longest we’ve been apart in years. We usually travel and minister together, but it just didn’t seem appropriate for me to crash a house full of guys. Robert is traveling back to Chicago today and will fly in tomorrow. I am mentally tracking his progress, eager for His return.

When Robert left, I intended to take advantage of the time to intentionally seek God’s face myself. The first day or two I made weak stabs at it while trying to get some details out of the way, but then I got swallowed up in the mundane tasks of life. Actually, I got sidetracked trying to get the final pages written for the publication of Uprooting Anger. After editing and re-editing for what seemed to be the hundredth time, and trying unsuccessfully to reach somebody after dozens of calls, it seemed pretty mundane—maybe the minutia and distractions of life would be a better term for it.

Anyway, what I was getting at was that I lost my goal. I set out to seek God’s face. What I did was important and had to be done, but I am painfully aware that the time is gone and I totally forgot about my goal to seek God in a special way. Like Martha, I’ve been distracted by many things. Now the time is basically gone, and it’s time to straighten up and have everything ready to welcome Robert home.

But then again, is that just another distraction? You know, the Bible doesn’t tell us what Martha did after Jesus told her that Mary had chosen the better part. You reckon Martha went back to the kitchen? Or did she sit down at Jesus’ feet beside her sister?