Now as they went on their way, Jesus entered a village. And a woman named Martha welcomed him into her house. And she had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord's feet and listened to His teaching. But Martha was distracted with much serving. And she went up to Him and said, “Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Tell her then to help me.” But the Lord answered her, “Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things, but one thing is necessary. Mary has chosen the good portion, which will not be taken away from her.” Luke 10:38-42. ESV
Check out the words, 'But Martha was distracted with much serving.' Martha was a servant and everything had to be in place and done according to how she liked it. She had a time-table. In fact, she lived life in the fast lane. When we do this, we open the door to stress and possible sickness as we attempt to compete with the time-table that we have put upon ourselves. When we look at all we have to do, it is so easy to flap and become frustrated because no one else understands the pressure that we are under - actually, the pressure that we have put ourselves under.
Martha was very much like this. She was faithful and loved her sister but she couldn't understand why Mary couldn't see the importance of doing things - NOW! Therefore, she asked Jesus to speak with Mary and encourage her to help. She was not expecting the answer she received from Him, however, He identified her anxiety and the trouble this was causing her and others. Mary would have been very willing to help her sister, but, she had prioritised and put Jesus first, which we all should do.
In the pressure moments of this life, do you become stressed when you have a lot of things to do? The problem is, we often view all of our jobs and tasks in one, as if they all have to be done at the same time. Obviously, without help, this is impossible. It is far better to do some chunking.
Wikipedia says this about chunking:
'Bite-sized learning approaches use what cognitive psychologists call chunking to aid retention. This is a strategy of breaking down information into chunks (bite-sized) pieces so that the brain can easily digest it. ... Chunking uses what we know about our brains memory and exploits it.'
It is a psychological process that helps the brain to be able to cope with certain things that come against us. When we have a lot of chores to do, it can be advantageous to break the jobs down into bite size chunks - manageable doses. This helps the brain to process the work in hand and allot time for the tasks i.e. 'this is the task for today, I'll do the other tomorrow'. Chunking can also allow us break down further, the bite size chunk we have allotted, which helps us have more time for the task in hand.
When we look at it all, are the tasks that are stressing you out, of so much importance that they all need to be done now? It's very doubtful. It is you that have set the priority, not the tasks. It is looking at your tasks in hand and deciding what is the most important. From thereon, a schedule can be created, but one that is flexible if possible. The difference between setting priorities and chunking is that, with the latter, it helps your cognitive skills to kick in and think it through sensibly. If you're the type of person that is prone to getting stressed out by all you have to do, try chunking out. Break the jobs down into bite size chunks and have a stress-free life as Jesus wants you too.
Copyriight 2020 Grahame Howard
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