Attentiveness

When Jesus showed up at the home of Martha and Mary (Luke 10:38), the two sisters responded in two different ways.  Mary finds a place of single minded attentiveness to Jesus while Martha becomes so busy doing the stuff she deems necessary that Jesus is not only elsewhere in her home, but also elsewhere in her mind.  We should never decide that the things Martha did were unimportant things.  But, those things were her things.  They were the things birthed from her own ego and not from any expectations from Jesus.   

It is always true that what keeps us away from single minded attentiveness to holy presence is our bent to listening to our ego as it tells us about the good and necessary things which need doing.  The truth is a moment of holy presence requires no activity, work, or welcoming preparation.  As much as every fiber of our being rebels at the idea, there are those moments when doing nothing but sitting in the silence is the only appropriate thing to do.  The image of the single minded attentiveness of Mary is what Jesus pointed out as the "better part."  (Luke 10:41)       

What do we do when heaven breaks into our part of the earth?  What do we do when holy presence invades what is perceived to be the ordinary moments of our life?  What do we do when Jesus shows up in the place where we are living?  We can listen to the voice of our ego which will speak the practical, logical, common sense word, or we can do the radical thing and let everything go so that our body, soul, and spirit is focused in a moment of single minded attentiveness on Jesus.