The flight lands on Thursday. It is Monday, and the list taped to the fridge has twenty-three items on it. Paint the front grille. Fix the dripping tap in the guest bathroom. Get the mattress from your sister. Finish tiling the verandah step you started in March. Cook the curry goat, the rice and peas, the sorrel. Clear the spare room, which has become the place where everything without a home has lived for a year.
By Wednesday night you are on a ladder at eleven o’clock with a paintbrush and a torch, snapping at anyone who comes near. When the visitors finally arrive, tired and happy, you greet them with a smile you do not feel, and spend the next four days checking whether they have noticed the step is still unfinished.
Many households know some version of this week. It is not a new problem.
A house full of preparations
When Jesus came to the village of Bethany, Luke tells us that a woman named Martha welcomed Him into her house (Luke 10:38). It was her home, and she took hospitality seriously. There was food to prepare, water to draw, places to arrange for a teacher and His followers. Her sister Mary, meanwhile, sat at Jesus’ feet and listened.
Luke says Martha was “distracted with much serving”. Eventually she came to Jesus and asked Him to tell her sister to help. His answer is one of the gentlest rebukes in the Gospels:
“Martha, Martha, you are worried and troubled about many things. But one thing is needed, and Mary has chosen that good part, which will not be taken away from her.” (Luke 10:41-42)
It is worth noticing what Jesus did not say. He did not say the food was unimportant or that hospitality was wrong. Elsewhere Scripture tells us plainly to be hospitable to one another without grumbling (1 Peter 4:9). Jesus ate the meals people prepared for Him and was glad of them. His concern was that Martha had let the preparations crowd out the Person. The guest was in her house, and she was missing Him.
Who is the house really for?
When relatives come home from abroad, or a friend comes to stay, the scramble to get the house ready can carry more than love. There may be pride in it: wanting the returning sister to see how far we have come. There may be fear: of being judged by the brother-in-law who always notices the cracks. There may simply be years of living with jobs half-done, and a visit becomes the deadline for all of them at once.
But the aunt who flew nine hours did not come to inspect the verandah step. She came to sit with you. The children who have not seen their grandfather in three years will not remember whether the grille was freshly painted. They will remember whether he laughed with them, or whether he was up a ladder the whole time.
The same is true in our relationship with God. It is possible to be busy for Him, running the church hall, fixing the pastor’s roof, cooking for every function, and rarely sit still in His presence. The one thing needed is not another job completed. It is attention.
Choosing the good part this week
A few ways to let the list serve the visit rather than swallow it:
- Cut the list in half. Safety and basic comfort come first: a clean bed, a working toilet, a door that locks. The unfinished step can wait.
- Stop the night before. Set a time after which no more jobs get started, and go to bed.
- Let guests help. Many visitors would love to peel, stir or sweep beside you. Working together is its own kind of sitting at someone’s feet.
- Plan unhurried time. One evening with nothing arranged but talking on the verandah may be the part everyone remembers.
- Start each busy day with God. Five quiet minutes before the first pot goes on the stove can steady a whole week.
For reflection
- When you prepare your home for others, what are you most anxious about them seeing? What does that reveal?
- Where in your life are you busy serving God but rarely still before Him?
A prayer
Lord Jesus, You know how quickly my lists take over my home and my heart. Thank You for the people who come through my gate. Help me to welcome them properly, without letting the preparations crowd out the people. And teach me, like Mary, to choose the good part: to sit with You and listen. Amen.
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