What About Mary? By Lisa Burkhardt Worley
Are you a Mary or a Martha? Do you spend a lot of time communicating with God or are you always on the go—a doer—taking care of tasks?
The story of Mary and Martha unfolds in Luke 10:38-42:
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 few things are needed—or indeed only one. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.”
There is nothing wrong with being a Martha. Someone has to get the work done, but Jesus said Mary chose what was better. If Martha had disbanded all the food preps, no one would have eaten!
On Thursday, the speaker at the Christian Women in Media meeting, Norwegian ministry leader Anne Christianson, pastor of the Jesus Church in Norway, made a profound statement: “There is a Mary way to do all the Martha tasks.” I understood what she meant. To accomplish all the work before us, we need to be both Mary and Martha. We must sit at the Lord’s feet and lay a foundation of prayer before we can move forward with any initiative. We should be a Mary before we put on our Martha clothes.
For example, we began our “40 Days of Prayer” on Thursday afternoon for our upcoming Level-Up Women’s Conference. There is a lot of doing to get ready for an event like Level-up, but I told our team that praying for the conference is more important than the conference itself. Weekly, we are lifting up every aspect of the conference, from the attendees to the speakers to the music. We want God’s hand on everything, and we have to place ourselves in a Mary position to make these requests.
I love being a Mary in the morning. Before I start my Martha day, I spend anywhere from an hour to an hour-and-a-half worshipping, studying, and praying. I believe this kind of beginning to the day makes the work go more smoothly because God has been placed first and I have asked Him to cover everything. There is peace in that.
So Martha’s, there is something to be learned from Mary. Let’s pour Mary into the mix and we’ll be a better Martha.
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Are you longing for some fellowship and encouragement? We’d love for you to join us at our Level-Up Women’s Conference May 3rd from 10:00 a.m.-3:30 p.m.. This year, our guest speaker is Purpose Author Beth Townsend. Worship will be led by Renee Rollins. Also speaking: Lisa Burkhardt Worley, Lane Jordan Burday, Aurora Ortega Geis, Michelle Burden, Onyx Conklin, Zabbie Mikasobe, Rosemary Legrand, and Emily House. We will be leveling up purpose, leveling up pampering, and leveling down pain. The conference is covered by prayer so we know you will be blessed. Register on Eventbrite: https://2025LevelUp.eventbrite.com