“The one thing necessary,” my Dad would say. It was a somewhat ambiguous phrase he’d reference, sometimes almost a joke, but also expressing the depth and seriousness of his continual search for the “need of only one thing,” that Jesus reminds us to focus on in today’s Gospel.

And along the journey of my father’s diagnosis of Alzheimer’s, these words become more and more true. The experiences of loss and slow dying have a way of reminding us to come back to what is most important.

Through my father’s decline, his life continues to teach us to have faith to put aside the burden of the inevitable sadness, worries, and stresses of caretaking to come back to the “one thing necessary,” and, like Mary, “[sit] beside the Lord at his feet listening to him speak” (Luke 10:39).

Can we sit with Jesus present in our loved ones, families, children, students, clients, co-workers and to listen to them and to Him teaching us lessons about what is most important?

So many "shoulds" can get in the way these days. So many demands and pressures tell us to we need to do more. But what if the "more" we need to do is actually to listen and rest? Can we take time to practice presence and just "be"? Because being present and encountering God and one another are truly what is most important.

What is your current experience of being “burdened with much serving”? Are you worried and anxious about many things? When you come and sit at the feet of Jesus and listen to what He has to say to you, what do you hear?

Take some time today to pause, even if only for a moment or a couple minutes, and listen. What do you hear and feel God speaking to your heart?

[bctt tweet="What if the "more" we need to do is actually to listen and rest? // Mary Catherine Craige " username="blessedisshe__"]

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