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Luke 10:38 NLT
‘As Jesus and the disciples continued on their way to Jerusalem, they came to a certain village where a woman named Martha welcomed him into her home.’
As a thinker, problem-solver and academic, I’ve found it difficult to get beyond intellectual assent to the truth of Jesus. Not that there isn’t an irrefutable intellectual basis to what Christianity proposes. However, this doesn’t provide the best ground upon which to build a friendship with God.
Marriage requires far more than an official ceremony and certificate. I don’t wake each morning preparing for another day of marriage by consulting and conforming to a document. Such a marriage characterises the letter of the law of spousal love, yet without relational heart. My wife doesn’t want me to love her from a sense of responsibility, but by the exercise of my free choice. I’m not to maintain my marriage out of a sense of legal obligation, but to nurture and nourish it from a freely gifted commitment of myself, entire and complete.
Jayne and my daughter, both of whom I love, have a nickname for me – they call me ‘Mr Potato Head’. This is because I can be present in body yet absent in every other way! They talk to me and it’s as if I’m not there. My absence is interrupted and I’m brought back into the room as I hear them say, ‘Hey, Mr Potato Head.’ It’s a gentle way to recover my engagement with them and the movie we’re watching, the meal we are eating or the activity we’re participating in.
Martha welcomes Jesus with a generous hospitality. Elsewhere in scripture, it’s easy to discover Martha has a deep love and respect for Jesus. Only in this instance we discover just how easy it was for Marth to be both present and absent at the same time. This is what Jayne wants, my full presence when together. It’s not that where my head takes me is wrong. It’s the inappropriateness of going there when I’ve made a promise to occupy the relational space. Failure to be present is a reflection of the value I place upon the relationship, and the quality of the love I’m willing and able to extend.
QUESTION: How do you know when you’re fully present within any given situation?
PRAYER: Lord, you are always present. Help me grow in knowing the One who is there.
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