I don’t know if you have noticed that as you age sitting
down on the floor is not the problem. The problems incurs when it is time to
rise and move from that spot. The knees ache, the back gets sore; your bones
creak like the floor of an old house. As I have aged slightly (I am still a
young chick; in my mind at least) I have noticed that I tend to avoid the
posture of sitting on the floor. Is it because I do not enjoy sitting on the
floor? I rather do enjoy sitting around on the floor, just hanging out. It is
when the getting up has gotten harder that I find myself sitting less.
In the bible we see Mary sitting at Jesus feet. Now there
are truly more ramifications of that moment than I tend to tear into at this
time, but I am captured by her position. In her day sitting at the feet of a
teacher was akin to going to college. You were not chosen by your school you
were chosen by your teacher. Did I mention she was a girl?? In the time that
Mary was in the world women were not chosen to learn anything other than “women’s
work”. It would have been earth-shattering in that day for a woman to be at the
feet of any Rabbi or teacher.
Although I am captured by the thought of how progressive
this was at the time again I go back to the whole sitting posture. There she
is, sitting as Jesus’ feet; leaning on every word he spoke. As though time
matter not, where her whole world stopped. It wasn’t like there was a ton to do
that day in her house. Obviously if God is coming over for dinner you want to
make a good impression. We all know about Martha in the kitchen seething as her
sister is just sitting there.
Is Mary with so much work to be done wrong in her posture?
Being a Martha in my own right I used to get a little ticked off at how Mary,
just sitting there, was praised. Then it hit me! BAM! That was it, right there
in my own phrasing… Mary was sitting. She wasn’t distracted, she wasn’t
worried, she wasn’t anxious, she wasn’t planning, and she wasn’t caught up in
her own world. What she was doing
however was allowing Jesus to teach her, and in that posture she was
worshiping.
In her own body posture she was “doing”; doing the work of
the Lord by spending time with Jesus. I have found the longer I walk with Jesus
the less I have gotten down on the floor so to speak, and spent time at his
feet. There is always someone to take care of, a sermon to watch, people to
reach, and don’t you know it is all up to me! Somewhere in my every day comings
and goings I forgot my life is about sitting at Jesus feet. If everything I do
is done out of the strength that I gain in those moments then why don’t I do it
more often?
That is where I am at in my life. I found myself at the end
of all hope that I can do it by myself. I need Jesus so much just to be a
functional human being. I have to have days of rest, nights of sleep, and long
moments sitting as His feet; listening to His instructions. I am not strong in
myself, I am not together in myself, and I am not capable in myself. It is only
by sitting at His feet that I am strong, together, and capable.
Do you know why getting up is harder as you age? Simply
because you stop using the muscles you used to use in getting up. It is a
vicious cycle… Sit down more and getting up will actually get easier. Just like
spending time with Jesus more makes your whole life worth living. Blessings!
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