Gal 1:13-24 / Lk 10:38-42
We are great worriers, every last one of us. In the course of a week, the range and quantity of things that we allow ourselves to worry just a little about, or perhaps a lot, is truly remarkable. Like the obese person who nibbles constantly without realizing it and then is astonished when the day’s nibbling is totaled in pounds and ounces, almost all of us would be astounded if the weight of our worries could be laid before us so graphically.
Worry steals from us the best parts of our lives, but it doesn’t have to. Worry can only get a foothold if we allow it. And that’s why Jesus addressed Martha so firmly in today’s gospel. “Martha,” he said, “you are worried and upset about many things; one thing only is required.”
We have the power to choose what we give our attentions to. The challenge for each of us is to see and then to choose decisively what’s worth giving our time and our hearts to. Don’t fritter your life away with baskets and bales of what in the end amounts to nothing. Let the Lord show you “the one thing only that is required.”
