Smart Martha is not a real person. I mean who would really be bold enough to call herself, “Smart.” Definitely, not me. I use this term Smart Martha as a concept. Someone we can all strive to be like. In reality, I am a Not-so-smart Martha—just like the Martha from the story in the Bible. If you don’t know the story, it goes something like this: Jesus is visiting his friends, Mary and Martha who are sisters. They live in Bethany not too far from Jerusalem. Jesus has a little crowd with him, and they are just hanging out. Martha being the perfect hostess worries about feeding everyone. She is busy doing the dishes and other hostess duties when she notices that her sister Mary is sitting on her bottom doing nothing, just listening to Jesus speak. She is outraged. Who wouldn’t be? She marches right up to Jesus and speaks her mind. Expecting Jesus to give her some sympathy, she waits to hear Mary’s reprimand. Something like, “Mary, can’t you see how busy your sister is? Please help her out.” But to her shock, the reprimand was directed to her. Jesus corrects Martha for being anxious and worried about many things and not choosing the better thing to do. Yes, that’s typically me. I am busy and worried about many things—often at the expense of others. Do you have Martha tendencies too? Or maybe you are like the Mary in this story, but to a fault—you spend all this time hanging out, enjoying the company, but your home and life is in terrible disorder at the expense of others. I am proposing this Smart Martha idea for women who want to get the dishes done, yet also spend the time with Jesus and their guests. Do you get the Smart Martha idea?
It means being organized so that we have time for the people in our lives. It means being efficient so that we can sit down and converse. And above all, it means that we never pick the less important things to rule our lives—dishes can wait, fingerprints can be wiped off later, and paying the bills can be put off until the end of the month or at least until the kids go to bed.