Last Tuesday at Spirit Study we reviewed Chapters 1 & 2 of the book Having a Mary Heart in a Martha World. Chapter 1 is titled "A Tale of Two Sisters" and discussed the scripture Luke 10: 38-42 and looked at the story of Mary and Martha from both perspectives. Going deeper though the study guide it asks us to list at least two things we learned about Martha and two things we learned about Mary and how we would sum up each woman using one word. To me Martha is impatient and concerned that everything has to be just right, where as Mary is brave to challenge the expectations of woman at that time and eager to learn and is patient. Martha I would say is a worry wart where Mary is courageous. Martha thought the best for the best was slaughtering the best meat and having fresh food when really Jesus would have accepted less material goods for more time of worship. The next question brought up in the study guide is A woman told me, "I guess I'm just a Martha and that I'll always be a Martha." Is it possible for our basic character to change, or are we destined to live our lives stuck in a pre-determined nature? I thought that it was possible for us to change. During the discussion last night someone compared Mary to a child sitting at the feet of their parents during story time and Martha was the stressed out mother. Also that the possibility of change comes with age and with God's help. That we need to allow God in and to know, listen and commune with him. We looked deeper into the following scripture looking at what they say about change: Ezekiel 36: 26-27; 2 Corinthians 5:17; and Philippians 1:6. The following question I struggled with and did not answser: Have you seen God's work of transformation in your own life or someone else's? How did you know it was a "holy makeover" and not just a temporary "facelift?" We went on and discussed the following piece of scripture Matthew 11: 28-30 and looked at the keywords and what Jesus is saying.
Chapter 2 is titled "Lord, Don't You Care?" Here Joanna Weaver (the author) discusses the "Deadly D's" Distraction, Discouragement, and Doubt. In the study guide she has us look at 1 Kings 19: 1-18 and reflect how Elijah was influenced by the Deadly D's. This actually fit in nicely because the study we did before this one was Elijah so I understood it better. I had a hard time though describing Elijah's doubt because to me discouragement and doubt are very similar. We looked at the scripture of Mark 4: 35-41 were Jesus calmed the water during the storm and his disciples asked him if he cared. We had to reflect on what this portion of scripture taught us about the difficult times in our lives? To me this said that no matter what happens we shouldn't lose faith in God. We then looked at Psalm 103 and had to list at least five of the many ways God shows his love for us. After we were asked to write a letter to Jesus beginning with "Lord I know you love me because..." and list the ways he has shown his great love for us. We watch the DVD that goes along with the book and the study guide and in the video Joanna looks at the siblings in the scripture Luke 15: 11-32 of the Return of the Prodigal Son (I love this story by the way) and reflects on it in relation to the concepts brought up in the book of the story of Martha and Mary. She calls it the Older Sister Syndrome. She mentions three Key Truths. 1. Proximity doesn't ensure relationship. 2. God's love for others in no way diminishes His love for us. 3. We all need to come to our senses; its time to come HOME!
I am really enjoying the book so far as is everyone else in the study. What is nice about how this book is written is that it is very personable. The author adds in aspects from her personal life and her struggles with having a Mary heart in a Martha world and is so down to earth about it. Things are simply stated, but cause you to think deeper and strive further into scripture to truly understand God's love for us.
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