There are seasons of our life that just aren't pretty. Right now I can think of quite a few things in our world that are creating stressful situations, dark times for many. My best friend and her three children drove 12 hours to evacuate their home as tropical storms turn into hurricanes and threaten their island home. They are safe and sound here, but I can't help but think about all the chaos that comes with the circumstance. One day of virtual school happened before evacuation. There is no timeline for this kind of thing. You pack up and get out, not knowing what you will come home to, if there will be a home to come home to. You aren't sure about much of anything. Leaving her spouse behind to weather the storm from the hospital, as a physician, she packed up and came up here. I guess my mind is just full of thoughts and my heart is full of intercession for her, her kids, her husband, her friends, church family, neighbors.
In Luke 10:42 Mary has chosen to sit at Jesus's feet while her sister is busy with all the things that hosting entails. I love that Martha is such a hospitable and thoughtful woman. Here though, Jesus is speaking into the chaos with these words, "only one thing is needed". Mary was choosing Jesus. Simple. I think Martha was choosing Jesus in her own way, but isn't it like us to choose our own way, thinking it is the more important, but we just don't quite get it. We think we need to DO a whole bunch of things. We need to "manage".
I'm reminded, as I think back in our friendship, of times when life was less than easy. I think back to a season where I was in a fog. I was alone most of the time, at the hospital, as Noah lay there recovering from heart surgeries, and every other weekend or so, she would come up and stay with me. She would stay at the Ronald McDonald house with me, we would eat out, got a pedicure on occasion, we would get coffee, went to Half Price Books, sat in Noah's little cubicle in ICU and would read books and chat. We got cleaned up and dressed up for a dinner at a lovely local restaurant one night. We made these altar moments of gratitude, joy and remembering that life wouldn't always be this hard. Life wouldn't always be so dark. We chose to remember the God who gives us good things. It would have been very easy for me to sit in the hospital every single moment and "manage" the situation by never leaving, never looking up, never breaking away from the darkness. I could have easily just have kept grinding away in the heaviness of it all, but God. God opened up these moments to remember that He is good, even in the ugliness.
What are some of the ways you can build an altar in your current season? Is it coffee with a friend? A small day trip to a pretty place you've never been? Is it buying a new journal or Bible and claiming the promises of Jesus all over again? Whatever it is, find a way to make a mark of joy in a season of pain/sadness/uncertainty. I know right now we're all in a season of uncertainty. Our kids are all taking things in stride, we are learning to relearn, readjust, realign. Let's make some altars in this season to pause and remember God's absolute goodness. Let's get ice cream or have a picnic. Maybe a movie night or a homemade pizza night? It doesn't actually take much to create a moment in time that we can return to and remember, it will all be ok.
It really will all be ok,
Shaina
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