One Thing Is Needful

A couple of days ago, this little guy was walking around on the paint can under our carport. The children and I had been out and my youngest son Joel who notices everything said, "Look Mom...a bee is walking around on this can!" Well, I of couse told him not to touch it because it might sting and I was a little too busy trying to round up the troops to get in the house to go and look. The next day, we were leaving the house and that same bee was on the paint can. The children noticed it immediately and I thought it unusual...maybe it got stuck somehow and couldn't fly off. So, I got a small stick and put her on the concrete. She wobbled and staggered and then I knew that this little bee probably had worked herself into a frenzy and had run out of fuel and couldn't get back to the hive. The children knew this little lesson about bees and so begged me to give her something to get her going. I went and got some raw honey, put it on the ground and placed the bee beside it. She began immediately gobbling it up as fast as she could. It was amazing to watch. After a few hours, that bee had recovered enough to fly off again. I thought, "Okay...I can count that as a science lesson!" We homeschooler's can always find things to count as school!!! A few days later, I woke up feeling pretty good physically. I have been unable to keep up with household tasks the way I would wish lately due to doctor's visits and my lame toe! Have you ever had one of those mornings that as soon as you wake up, you already feel 10 hours behind? Well, this was one of those days. I began frantically running around barking orders to the children...doing school, rearranging clothes for the new season, raking leaves in the front yard, juicing, giving two guinea pigs a bath and cleaning our their cages...and the list goes on. By the end of the day, I was worn out...I had accomplished a lot, but still didn't feel satisfied. I expected to feel much better about my day than this. And then, it was as if God brought back to my remembrance that little bee. Funny, I thought that lesson was for the children! "Jackie, how much time have you spent in the Word today? Today, you have been a Martha, when I wanted you to be a Mary? When was the last time you longed for Me the way that bee for honey?" Oh, how that pricked my soul! I wasn't as kind as I should have been to my children...I wasn't at peace...my duties got in the way of my devotion. I cried out, "Forgive me Lord...and teach me to long for Your word like that little bee did for that sweet honey." How often I am like that little bee...runnning around in a frenzy, trying to keep up with all that I think needs to be done, and all the while God waits, waits to refresh my soul, to give me the energy I need to accomplish what He has called me to do...but many times it is only when I run out of fuel and my spiritual tank has run dry that I realize what my soul needed all along. May the Lord give you the desire to rest and find refreshment in Him today!

"How sweet are Thy words unto my taste! Yea, sweeter than honey to my mouth!"
Psalm 119:103

"But Martha was cumbered about much serving, and came to Him, and said, "Lord, dost thou not care that my sister hath left me to serve alone? bid her therefore that she help me." And Jesus answered and said unto her, 'Martha, Martha, thou art careful and troubled about many things: but one thing is needful and Mary hath chosen that good part, which shall not be taken away from her.'"
Luke 10: 40-42