"Tough day. God is in control."

Every once in a while, life has a way of quickly snapping back into perspective . . . sometimes it happens suddenly.  Today was one of those days for me.  All of us get busy with the everyday demands of life.  Some of our busyness stems from the physical requirements of our mortal existence, but most of our busyness is self-imposed.  Much of our self-imposed busyness is composed of good, justifiable activity.  Activity that seems so important.  Keeping the house clean, running our kids to their ballgames, trimming the yard and folding the laundry are  just a few of the many activities that quickly come to mind.

I am reminded of the story of Martha in the New Testament:

Now it came to pass, as they went, that he entered into a certain village: and a certain woman named Marth received him into her house.

And she had a sister called Mary, which also sat at Jesus’ feet, and heard his word.

But Martha was cumbered about much serving, and came to him, and said, Lord, dost thou not care that my sister hath left me to serve alone? bid her therefore that she help me.

And Jesus answered and said unto her, Martha, Martha, thou art careful and troubled about many things:

But one thing is needful: and Mary hath chosen that good part, which shall not be taken away from her (Luke 10:38-42).

As I watch our five little boys quickly grow into five little young men, I am often scared that I am too much like Martha.  It is so easy to be like Martha in today's world.  We fill our lives up with activity after activity and carefully cumber ourselves with the troubles and cares of the world, which are so easily taken away from us.  Mary, on the other hand, immediately recognized and seized the opportunity to sit at the Savior's feet and let the cares of the world fall out of her mind and into their appropriate place.

Today, one of my good friends at work, Greg, lost his youngest son and both of his in-laws in a terrible car accident.  His other son lies in critical condition in the intensive care unit.  Fortunately, his daughter, his oldest child, was not involved in the accident.  News of this tragedy stunned our tight-knit group at the office.  The projects and conference calls all came to an abrupt end as our lives collectively snapped back into perspective.

Greg is one of the most well-respected people in our organization; not just because of his business acumen, but because of his integrity, his loyalty and his concern for others.  Shortly after the heart-rending details of the accident were confirmed, I sent Greg a quick message to express my sorrow for his loss.  His immediate reply was, "Thx.  Tough day.  God is in control."  His simple reply speaks volumes about his character.  He has had many Job-like challenges during the past year, but through it all he has managed to, remarkably,  maintain a Mary-like perspective.

I believe that when we have finished our mortal experience we will see things as they really are.  We will understand much more acutely the Savior's counsel to Martha to not just choose to fill our lives up with good things, but to spend our time seeking that which is needful.  Of course, the key is to obtain that Mary-like perspective during our mortal existence, not afterwards.  That is my challenge.  That is our challenge; to not let ourselves slowly, even carefully, drift out into the currents of our busy lives, away from what matters most in our lives, away from the needful things in our lives.  Rather, to choose the good part: to love others, to serve others, to lead our families in righteousness and to focus on that which shall not be taken away from us.