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Mary and Martha

by Annie Johnson Flint

Mary was busy and hurried,

Serving the Friend divine,

Cleansing the cups and the platters,

Bringing the bread and the wine;

But Martha was careful and anxious,

Fretted in thought and in word,

She had no time to be learning

While she was serving the Lord,

For Martha was “cumbered” with serving

Martha was “troubled” with “things”—

Those that would pass with the using—

She was forgetting her wings.

But Mary was quiet and peaceful,

Learning to love and to live,

Mary was learning His precepts,

Mary was letting Him give—

Give of the riches eternal,

Treasures of mind and of heart;

Learning the mind of the Master,

Choosing the better part.

Do we ever labor at serving

Till voices grow fretful and shrill,

Forgetting how to be loving,

Forgetting how to be still?

Do we strive for “things” in possession,

And toil for the perishing meat,

Neglecting the one thing needful—

Sitting at Jesus' feet?

Service is good when He asks it,

Labor is right in its place,

But there is one thing better—

Looking up into His face;

There is so much He would tell us,

Truths that are precious and deep;

This is the place where He wants us,

These are the things we can keep.