The Busy Life
“Beware the barrenness of a busy life.” – Socrates
Modern life seems synonymous with a busy life. We are geared to be busy. After all, busyness is big business. From perfectly portioned boxed meals at our doorstep, childcare, to cleaning services, we are encouraged to outsource the basic necessities of our lives so we can keep up with the momentum of our busy lives.
Gone is the utopian vision of the 1950s, where they theorised that machines would give us more leisure time. Instead, machines are simply aides to make us even more productive.
Now, we do derive some pleasure from our toil (Ecclesiastes 2:24) but to have a life consumed with busyness is not the abundant life Jesus spoke about (John 10:10). Instead, a busy life although having the buzz of productivity lacks the zest of vitality that comes from the source of life itself, God.
The story of the two sisters, Martha and Mary, is a short poignant lesson on being preoccupied with busyness.
Now as they went on their way, Jesus entered a village. And a woman named Martha welcomed him into her house. And she had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet and listened to his teaching. But Martha was distracted with much serving. And she went up to him and said, “Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Tell her then to help me.”
But the Lord answered her, “Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things, but one thing is necessary. Mary has chosen the good portion, which will not be taken away from her.” Luke 10:38-42 (ESV)
Martha is ‘distracted’ with serving. If the word busy was used it would be a fairly banal description. The word also begs the question, “What was Martha distracted from?” Could we propose that modern life is not so busy as it is distracted?
Jesus ignores Martha’s request but goes to the source of the issue by commenting on her state of mind. She is ‘anxious’ and ‘troubled’ over ‘many things’. That probably indicates it is not merely the serving of guests but her life in general. Her life is concerned with so much except with the ONE thing it should be focused on.
Martha had invited Jesus to her house but she was distracted from him by the cares and toils present in her life. Here the source of life was in her home yet she remained anxious and troubled. How could she possibly be anxious when the maker of all things is in her home?
It is easy for us to invite Christ in our lives through prayer or thought but our minds are preoccupied with many things leaving us anxious.
Our busy lives leave us distracted from the one thing that is necessary for a good life.
If we could only choose the ‘one’ thing to be concerned about, the many things we worry about will fade. To lead a life free from anxiety and trouble is a true blessing. May we be able to describe our lives as abundant instead of busy.
