Some of you are aware that I grew up in a family of ten children. For the most part, we all got along... for the most part. Of course we had our moments when we argued and fought about the littlest things. We competed together - especially my three older brothers and I. Football, broomball, hockey, basketball, baseball, golf - many times we entered those arenas as gladiators ready to do battle with one another. Sometimes you'd win... most times I'd lose. I wasn't the most careful youngster growing up. I broke both of my arms (two different times). Once I was sledding off a home made snow jump that we had built on Rabbit Hill (a favorite sliding place back in the woods near our home) and the sled runner landed between my arm and the ground. The other time I rolled off a shed at the local greenhouse next door and landed awkwardly on the ground, breaking my other arm. I remember the cast on my arm both times - it itched terribly while I was wearing it. That was annoying.
But in our competitiveness, my brother Curt wins first prize for breaking an arm. He was about fifteen or so when he fell out of a tree, just missing a huge boulder and landed on his arm, breaking it and needing a cast on it. (Some of us wondered if he didn't hit the boulder with his head, which might explain a few things.) Just breaking his arm by falling out of a pine tree in the backyard wasn't the thing that merits discussion here. It was what happened after he had the cast on his arm that is the story.
My dad and mom usually took us to the Twin Cities once a year. Sometimes we'd go to the Minnesota State Fair, staying overnight in a tent just off Snelling Avenue in the fairground campground. That was always a cool experience, listening to the city traffic and watch the State Fair fireworks show.
The year that Curt broke his arm, my dad took us to Metropolitan Stadium, the location where the Mall of America stands today. The Twins had a good team and their opponents were the dreaded New York Yankees. In those days, we knew the Twins and the Yankees lineups by heart. We'd play home run derby in our backyard and someone would be the Twins and the other would be the Yankees.
It was Wednesday, August 30, 1961. On this particular day, we got to the game early - Mom took most of us to find our seats while Dad and Curt went down to the railing near the field, hoping to get a closer look. (Why does Curt always get to go first?) An official on the field spotted Curt and his broken arm and asked him if he'd like to meet some of the players and have them sign his cast. To our amazement and (possibly) a little bit of jealousy, we watched as Curt was led to the home plate area where three future Major League Baseball Hall of Fame players signed his cast: from the Yankees, Mickey Mantle and Roger Maris and from the Twins, Harmon Killebrew. Curt was thrilled and (of course) we were excited as well. It's not everyday you get to see that kind of event. A few days later, a relative sent us a newspaper clipping from the Minneapolis Tribune, showing Curt with the three Hall of Fame players. He still has the picture, the cast, and the clipping yet today. (By the way, the Twins lost that game 4-0 behind Mantle's 47th home run of the season. Darn Yankees.)
Some of you have heard me tell this story before. It really is a great story. So what does an obscure baseball story have to do with today's devotion?
Competition between siblings can sometimes be heated. In this story, Martha is doing all the preparation work and she is a little upset that Mary isn't doing her share. When she asked Jesus to tell Mary to help, she didn't get the response she was hoping for.
Much has been made about this story - I've heard people ask "are you a Mary or a Martha?" Most times, this is a conversation between women (for obvious reasons). I believe this is a story that gives us pause to think about how we view our relationship with Jesus. We can be more task oriented toward Jesus (Martha) or we can be more meditative and reflective toward Jesus (Mary). Jesus told Martha that Mary chose the better part. That tells me either way is okay, but the meditative response is a better pathway to connecting with Christ.
My learning from this text? I need to take some important time to meditate and reflect on Jesus... to spend time in prayer and reflect on his example and his teachings. Yes, it's great to be doing things for the kingdom of God, but if I pause to meditate and reflect first, then the motivation for the doing is much clearer!
That is the better part!
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By the way - someone pointed this out to me... the devotional booklet has forty days of devotions. If I am trying to follow along each day's devotions through Lent, I need to skip Sundays, because Sundays are not included in the forty days of Lent. I didn't pick up on this right away, because if you had noticed, I had a blog entry for last Sunday. I won't be posting one tomorrow or Sunday - that will put me on track for Day 11. Yay! Oh, and make sure you move your clocks one hour ahead on Saturday!
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