Exercise Marthan agility and a Marian humility as we possess this world

There are practical books that give us direction as we continue living happily and fruitfully in this world. Good conduct aside, skills and connections can help one but all are rendered obsolete without God’s blessing. Ever since I took a spiritual soul search, I have taken to reading various spiritual books from different religions, ethnicities and writers. The Bible has tended to be my source on ‘accepting God in our lives’:  In Genesis 18: 1-12 one reads of Abraham’s experience of hosting God and how Sarah was to have a child in old age. In Luke 10: 38-42 one reads about Jesus pointing the way to possess this world by balancing spiritual and physical needs. In the reading one meets Martha ‘the woman of the house’ in her spirit and element. She is obsessed with entertaining Jesus, a Jewish Rabbi. We also meet Mary ‘the wise one’ sitting at Jesus feet intent on listening to every word that comes out of Jesus. Martha complains and asks Mary to come over to help with preparing meals. But Jesus reassures Martha and Mary that His word was all they needed at that moment. Jesus was a frequent guest at this home and he must have been entertained numerable times. Jesus emphasized various actions but the five that were important are: love of God and humans; forgiving; appearances/attitude; fairness in how we treat each other and; giving (especially alms). We meet this advice in Luke 11: 41-54. Elsewhere in Mathew 16:24-26, Jesus castigates us and guides us on how to winning both the world and our souls. We need to strive to gain both the world and our souls.  Humans were created to possess the world but as we do so let us keep in mind our Marthan duties and Marian imperatives..