Mary-ing

No more Martha-ing. (Busy doing.) Jesus said, "There is one thing that is needful." Sitting! Sitting at his feet listening to his lovely voice and focusing solely on the one who is the express image of Father God. God who is actually love. I imagine Mary almost laying on his lap listening to his message of how much she is loved. A Martha would say, "But being a goody-two-shoes is responsible." "Finding a diet plan and sticking to it to insure proper weight loss is the thing to do." and Jesus would say, "There is one thing that is needful." There is nothing wrong with a diet plan, and I am certainly not implying that one should "give up" in that sense. There is grace for the grace, but self effort just wasn't working for me. Oh, the pounds might come off, but I was miserable losing, and miserable not losing as fast as I thought I should be. Martha would see all the dust bunnies and pounds that needed to fall off. She would need to FIX it, and she would be aggravated at all the people who weren't working as hard as she was. She would be jealous of the ones who seem like they are living skinny in la la land. And Mary?....She is so caught up in Jesus that she doesn't even notice if she is skinny or fat. Food is not on her mind. What Martha is cooking up in the kitchen won't taste as good as what she is feasting on in her Spirit and soul.

My personality profile matches Martha. ...Ouch!... You cannot imagine the Debbie-Downer Syndrome I felt when I read that. To add insult to injury, I actually had to write a paper in Bible school on how I was like my Biblical personality profile match. Then just a little while after I wrote my paper, Sweet Jesus gave Sweet Rosemary a word for each member of my family. She wrote it down, and it still remains on my frig. Gosh, she hit the nail on the head for each one of us, but for me (I might cry) it said, "Audrey, God thanks you for being a Mary." plus some other things. POWERFUL. POWERFUL. I just about fell in the floor. I think I actually dropped the paper. I know I had to wait before reading the rest of the words because my eyes were flooded with tears. That really meant the world to me. I identified with someone Jesus had to put in her place, but then God said that's not who I am and told me who he sees me as...someone at rest doing exactly what she was supposed to be doing. I thank him for the way he sees me. His perspective draws me to his perspective. Sitting. Resting. Listening. Being loved on. Content. Happy. No need to "diet." Weight will fall off effortlessly. It's a fruit of the rest. Sedentary in the Spirit! Ha Ha Ha.

(I had written a little extra about "resting and doing/faith without works". Then I realized that it was not coming from my heart so I erased it. I was only adding that in for those who are scared of rest. I didn't want to be accused of being one of "those." But you know what? Here is the pure truth: Someone at rest may be doing a lot of good works effortlessly because it is out of who they are, but REST WORKS plain and simple. There is no adding that needs to be done to it. There is one thing that is needful. ONE thing is ONE thing. It is ok to jokingly call it "Sedentary in the Spirit" because "sedentary" is the fancy word we use for couch potatoes which implies sitting. That's what it feels like to live with a mind in a state of rest. We may be physically busy, but it just doesn't feel like it. Everything is easy and light. It really is effortless. Imagine...just pondering and soaking up love then all the sudden wake up and realize we're skinny. Sound too good to be true? Well then it must be God!)

Nutritional Nugget: Chopping Broccoli

Broccoi casserole was the first dish I made for married supper. That makes me laugh. It was the hardest thing on the menu, and I had planned for it for weeks. Gosh, I was little! Chicken nuggets, mashed potatoes, broccoli casserole, and warm and serve rolls. I've come quite a long way.

So I've said it before, but I'll say it again. If you come to a nutrition question on a multiple choice exam or the million dollar question on some game show with broccoli as one of the choices, then broccoli is the correct answer.

"Broccoli" is a derivative of a word that means, "the flowering top of cabbage." It is a great source of vitamin C, fiber, antioxidants, vitamin K, and calcium and loads of other nutrients. It's a gassy food too. It is diverse in recipes. Raw, steamed, casseroles, whatever. It's a dandy. You can even puree it up and hide it in things like brownies (I've heard, but not tried.)