Monday, September 13, 2010

Just call me Martha...

Toast and peanut butter in hand (it is Peanut Day afterall), and a mug of freshly brewed coffee at my side, I sit. I sit and I breath. The silence calms my heart, clears my mind and allows me time to reflect and feed my soul.

I consider all that happened yesterday when we gathered for fellowship at The Life Centre. I allow the Spirit to wash over me and fill me with His joy, His peace, His presence. And as I sit, pondering how I can be used in this new faith community, my thoughts to turn to a pot of chili con carne. Yes. Chili con carne. 

Just call me Martha.

Ann Voskamp of A Holy Experience spoke words the other day in her blog that fed my soul. Words that captured what my heart has always known... that I am a Martha, and that my ministry is in hospitality. On a recent trip to Guatemala, she penned the following words: 

"She asks to speak at the pulpit, to say a few words, her apron still on, her eyes love worn and lined with gentle strokes. Her name is Ruth. She's a woman ‘who makes her pots a holy thing’ (Zech. 14:21), who stirs eternity at the end of her spoon. The translator serves us Ruth's first words: ‘My mission is the kitchen.’ Many saints  have dishpan hands and I eat her words. They preach rich truth to me, that the kitchen with a plate is the place where the strangers at Emmaus and the starved of this earth meet the face of Christ. That the table can be a holy revelation." (Read more here...)
 
And so here I sit, chili con carne simmering, and brownies fresh from the oven. Food that will feed a team of people who are called to nourish the souls of our faith community. They nourish souls, while I nourish their bodies. I am filled with unspeakable joy. For in this, my "Martha calling," I commune with Him and am made whole.

No comments: