“Be Mary.”

My schedule has been doubly hectic these past two weeks. Jockeying for prime position in my weekly planner are my work and my service.

My brain has been getting fried with the kind of work I do – not my core gift, not enjoyable but definitely necessary in the bills department.

In my community service, there’s that same jostling going on. The bulletin, requests from other ministries, choir practice, stage décor look like hungry quadruplets crying for milk all at the same time. And silly me, I opened my big mouth that led to another ministry. Even if this will use my core gift and work experience, it still feels like my quads morphed into quints. Just like gremlins that got wet.

At the South Feast last Sunday, our worship leader, Jan Silan, asked us to pause and allow the Lord to speak to us. In the silence, God gently said to me, “Be Mary.”

That was an invitation that called the Martha in me to sit at His feet. And I did. I didn’t sing with the choir even in the afternoon session. I just focused on worshiping the Lord. That was the operative word for the day, FOCUS. The call to be Mary helped me to assess my service. At the May 16 talk, No Fears, Bro Arun said eventually our Courage Zone becomes a Comfort Zone. When that happens, it’s time to move out again. The Secretariat has become my comfort zone – well, to be more precise, it has become a discomfort zone.

It’s time to focus, to delegate, to move. I pray I’ll find someone who will see the Secretariat as her courage zone. It’s time for me to take risks in my core zone.


On the same vein, this reminds me of the original Martha in my family – my Mama. That’s obviously where my Martha genes come from. She celebrated her 80th birthday two weeks ago. At that age, she is still the epitome of Martha – managing our home to make sure our lives are comfortable. But she also takes the time to be Mary, for she sits at the Lord’s feet at mass every single day.