I’m watching a robin outside my window. Timidly, he looks around, cocking his head side to side. Then, in a quick burst, he takes four quick hops forward and stops. He pecks at the ground, looks around nervously again, takes a few more quick hops, and stops. Why do I feel like that? Why do I feel whenever I’m just getting started on something, somehow, for some reason, I stop? I start out with a quick burst, but it’s never long lived. I want to get busy with what I need to do—what I feel I must do, I’m called to do. But I feel the Lord’s hand on my shoulder just as I’m about to dart out the gate. What, Lord? What is it? His answer came in my Bible reading this morning. Luke 10…The familiar story of Mary and Martha. Admittedly, I sighed. I always had difficulty with that story. I feel Martha’s frustration. Really, she was doing important work! She was preparing dinner for the King of kings—she would nourish Him and make Him comfortable. She would serve the guests as they sat and learned from Jesus. There was much to be done—good work, important work. Yet, how vain to think that God needs anything from us. It is a privilege to work for Him, to be busy about the calling He has on our lives…but it’s not a necessity. God doesn’t require human effort. I think it pleases Him—if we serve with the right intentions—and He certainly uses it in the lives of others. But necessary? No. Even the most important work I do could be accomplished by only a simple command from the lips of God. “Only one thing is necessary,” Jesus tells Martha. “And Mary has chosen it”---to be in the presence of God. Lord, I feel your hand on my shoulder. I know You are telling me to not lose sight of the goal: You, You, and more of You. You are all I need. Anything apart from You is vanity, “chasing after the wind.” May my focus always be You, Lord. Even as I go and do, let me never leave Your presence. Amen.

I have always loved autumn. It used to mean the promise of a new school year, new books, sharp pencils, cute new clothes to wear, and being back together with friends after a long lazy summer. In later years, it meant exciting new college courses, decorating my own home for fall holidays, pulling out snuggly clothes for my children, and then getting them ready for school. Today is September 1, 2009. As if on cue for fall, the air is a perfect 72 degrees in Texas. I opened my windows this morning to hear the music of my youngest son’s high school marching band practicing on the football field just a half-block away. All the perfect ingredients for autumn… Yet, this year instead of the usual excitement, I feel loss. Deep loss. My oldest son left for college last week. Just three days later, I received the phone call telling me that my dear Granny had passed from this life into eternity. I look in the mirror, wondering what happened to the girl inside me. I see lines betraying the years that passed since I was the one heading off to college. I see what looks like a woman. A woman? Where is the girl? Truth hits squarely in the heart that I no longer have any living grandparents. My parents are now the patriarchs of the family. In fact, in just a few years, I myself could very legitimately be the grandmother. Where has the time gone? Where are the books I hoped to have published by now? Why haven’t many of those ministry goals been fulfilled by now? This is autumn! No time to waste for winter is coming! The words of Jesus which I read this morning in Luke 9:62 come quickly to my mind: “No procrastination. No backward looks. You can’t put God’s kingdom off till tomorrow. Seize the day.” (The Message) Time to get busy.