As I thought about all that my life entailed, I felt frustrated. I wanted nothing more than simply to sit at Christ's feet, as Mary had done, basking in His truth and love, but the realities of my life would not allow this (or so I told myself, after a second trip to the "potty" with my daughter deprived me of a hymn and half of the sermon). What does one do with all of life's obligations? How do they fit into this model of treasuring only Christ?
B.B. Warfield says this in The Emotional Life of our Lord:
"...[Jesus] declares that the love of his followers to him, imitating and reproducing his love to them, is to be the source of their obedience to him, and through that, of all the good that can come to human beings, including, as the highest reach of social perfection, their love for one another. Self-sacrificing love is thus made the essence of the Christian life..." (emphasis mine)It's not always about the "cloister," the secluded time of prayer and communion with Christ. It is often about imitating Him and loving Him by obeying Him. For me this means caring for my children, for my special-needs child, for my husband, and being faithful in the many tasks I have been given as a way of sacrificially loving my neighbor.
