On Worrying and Setting Right Priorities
Psalm 37:3-7 (CSB)
3 Trust in the Lord and do what is good;
dwell in the land and live securely.
4 Take delight in the Lord,
and he will give you your heart’s desires.
5 Commit your way to the Lord;
trust in him, and he will act,
6 making your righteousness shine like the dawn,
your justice like the noonday.
7 Be silent before the Lord and wait expectantly for him;
do not be agitated by one who prospers in his way,
by the person who carries out evil plans.
Luke 10:38-42 (ESV)
38 Now as they went on their way, Jesus entered a village. And a woman named Martha welcomed him into her house. 39 And she had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord's feet and listened to his teaching. 40 But Martha was distracted with much serving. And she went up to him and said, “Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Tell her then to help me.” 41 But the Lord answered her, “Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things, 42 but one thing is necessary. Mary has chosen the good portion, which will not be taken away from her.”
So far this year it seems like I’ve had more conversations than normal on the issue of setting priorities. Or at least that’s where we end up. We often start out thinking through anxiety, overwhelm, and a compulsion to control. Women are worrying. About a lot of things. An aging mom‘s dependence on pain pills. A brilliant daughter whose grades have plummeted. A husband won’t listen no matter how carefully his wife chooses her words. What kind of world will be left for our children to inherit. These are real conversations. Real burdens.
It’s these burdens that prompt a deep dive in the counseling room into what it looks like to honor God when you suspect you can’t do it all but feel like you have to try. The women I’m working with are seeking to grow in discernment and grow in wisdom. We are asking hard questions. What part of this is mine to do? What part is someone else’s? And what do I do if they don’t?
I’m reading Alan Noble’s new book, To Live Well, and this sentence from the introduction stopped to me:
”Look beneath the usual culture war hot topics, look beneath the appearances of justice to see what Christ is calling us to, what our right obligations are, and how we can practice those in the world that demands everything of us all time.”
Obligations? Yes. But right obligations. A yoke that fits us. The yoke where Jesus is carrying the heavy side. Setting priorities correctly means learning to discern when to trust and how to obey. It takes knowing when the “to do” is wait and pray.
God help us, in and out of the counseling space, to turn away from demands to do, have, and be everything so that we can learn the “one thing needed,” in all the areas of our life.