We all have days where we run at full speed from the moment we climb out of bed until we fall back into the bed at night. Days full of tasks and deadlines to accomplish.

Do we ever stop to think that our busyness might actually be dangerous?

Busyness can drive us to focus on pressing problems rather than on priorities. When that happens, we can miss strategic or once-in-a-lifetime opportunities. Martha nearly missed such an opportunity. Mary didn’t.

Jesus and his disciples came to a village where Martha and her sister Mary opened their home to them. Mary sat at the Lord's feet listening to what he said.

But Martha was distracted by a desire to please by cleaning the house and preparing meals for the guests. She later came to Jesus and asked, "Lord, don't you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!"

"Martha, Martha," the Lord answered, "you are worried and upset about many things, but only one thing is needed. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her."

Martha wanted everything to be just right for Jesus. But Jesus calmly noted: “Mary has chosen what is better” (v. 42). Mary refused to allow the urgent to control her behavior. Instead of being sucked into the current of busyness, Mary “chose” what was more important. She “chose” to sit at Jesus’ feet, to take advantage of the strategic opportunity before her.

Jesus’ words interrupted Martha’s busyness and reminded her that some things are more important than clean houses and multi-course dinners.

We are all pressured to concentrate on the urgent over the important. We are tempted to replace well-planned activity with hectic busyness. But in this account Jesus shows us a better way. Let us ask God for the wisdom to resist the tyranny of the urgent and to choose that which is better.