What Girls Get Wrong

I totally get where Martha's coming from. Most of us probably do. Most of us have a little more in common with her than we do with Mary. If you remember, back in Bible days when Jesus walked on earth, he and his disciples used to go to the house of three siblings a lot. These three, Martha, Mary, and Lazarus, always seemed to have a lot of people over when Jesus came. And Martha, being the awesome, ninja-skills hostess she was, liked to make sure everything was perfect. A little too perfect. I can imagine it now: a servant waiting with fresh water of just the right temperature right by the door for washing feet, and soft towels for wiping them off before the guests entered the main part of the house. As your feet are being washed, you can hear the soft strains of harp music wafting through the hall. The spicy scent of kebabs and the warmth of baked bread drifts past you, as the taste of cumin and clove fills your mouth. You cross the scrubbed-shiny floor, and are greeted by ano...

I don't know about you, but I go through highs and lows oftener than I'd like. Sometimes I'm so pumped about what I'm doing, what I see God doing, what's going on in my life, that I'm on Cloud Nine. I'm invincible. Nothing can get me down. Stubbed my toe against the coffee table? I'll be whistling once I'm done trying not to scream. Slipped and fell on the antarctic sidewalk outside? I'll get up and brush myself off and be on my way in no time. Gained two pounds because of that birthday party? I'll just eat better and it'll quickly come off. But then come the lows. Which, unfortunately, in our sinful world, are to be expected. Highs and lows are a part of our life here on earth. Hills and valleys. But unlike the gentle hills and shallow valleys of a little kid's picture*: To me they feel a lot more like this: Lows stink. They're what makes it hard to get things done, to get out of bed. They make it hard to remember ...

We've all dealt with them. That girl in your project group who does her part half-baked last minute, way after you agreed to send it to each other. That teacher who tells you to study one thing for the test, and then has something completely different on it. That guy who keeps calling you to complain about the universe (but especially girls). No, I am not making these up. These are all examples of people I've had to deal with. I'm sure you could add more (hey, I could add more). Life just includes dealing with difficult people. And, if we're honest, sometimes we're the difficult people others are dealing with. It's part of our fallen world, where our sin nature slams into our many different personalities, values, and cultures to make a steaming hot pot of difficult. When we're with Jesus in Heaven, where there is no sin, we'll get along. But here, where we're all flawed, where we all are focused on pushing our own agenda, we're going to be deal...