What I should have known all along

A few weeks ago to a realization that has made my life inexorably less stressful and more fulfilling: when I meet God, He isn't going to ask me how clean my house was. Instead, he will focus on my interactions with his creation. Was I a good mother and wife? Was I there for those who needed me? Did I turn away the angels on my doorstep?

Don't believe me? Read this:

At the Home of Martha and Mary

"Mary and Martha," Maurice Denis

As Jesus and his disciples were on their way, he came to a village where a woman named Martha opened her home to him. She had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet listening to what he said. But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made. She came to him 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 few things are needed—or indeed only one. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.”

Luke 10:38-42

Jesus isn't giving us permission to be slobs, but what he is doing is telling us that we have to focus on those things that are truly important. My family will always be more important than my kitchen floor. Always. So think once again about a question that I am sure you've been encountered with before: Are you a Mary or a Martha? What are the consequences and positives of your answer? Are you focusing on what is important or what you think needs to get done?