Stay Focused

Sheriff, my German Shepherd puppy, is about 9 months old, and he looks like a wolf. I don't think I have ever been adored by any person or any thing quite like this dog adores me. He looks me in the eyes and worships me.

The other day, I was petting him, and adoring him back, and his other two siblings tried to get in on the loving. I focused on Sheriff and kept talking to him, but he was so distracted by the other two, that he broke eye contact with me. He whined anxiously and tried to get them to go away. I had given him nothing to worry about, but he was distracted and troubled by the possibility of divided attention.

I love God. I worship Him. He gives me His undivided attention
and His loving words of kindness.
Distractions lurk all around me and I whine anxiously,
worried that I have lost God's attention because of pressing circumstances.

And again, I think of Martha and Mary.
Martha was a good gal.
She loved Jesus.
She showed Him her love by her actions.
She became distracted by her acts of service.
She was troubled by Mary's lack of service.

Mary loved Jesus too.
She sat at His feet and looked in His eyes
and worshipped Him.

She showed Him her love by listening
and receiving what He had to say.
She believed Him when He said that He was going
to go through a rough time.

Shortly, afterward, at another dinner party,
she broke open an alabaster jar of oil,
worth a year's wages,
and by so doing, in Jesus' words,
'anointed me for my burial.'

She believed and validated His words
by her actions.

What a relief it must have been to Him
to have someone believe Him
instead of saying,
"This shall never happen to you!"
and "I will stand by and guard You with my sword!"

She listened to Jesus' swan song-
the words one says before He dies.
I wonder what all He told her.

I love how He defended her behavior
to Martha and then later, to Judas
and some others.

Mary didn't much care what people thought of her.
She had One on her mind.
She was a liberated woman.

I pray that Jesus will help me be more like Mary.
I want to ask Him what is on His heart and mind.

His heart must get heavy at times.

Surely, He longs to tell someone
what is about to take place to His Spirit
and to His Body.

Perhaps, we too, can anoint His Body, the church,
with oil.
Perhaps, we can bring healing to its soul.

Perhaps, the fragrance from the oil of kindness and gladness
will remain with our brother and sister
as they wrestle in their own Garden of Gethsemane
and carry their cross to the Hill.