My name is Kari Slabaugh and I am from Southern Hills Youth for Christ with today’s minute message.
Early in my teenage years, I didn’t get much attention from my parents, but when I came home with good grades, I got a lot of praise from them. I learned the false narrative that if I perform or achieve well, then I am loved. It seeped into all my relationships. Whatever I did equaled how much I was loved by other people.
There is a story about Mary and Martha in the Bible where Jesus comes to their house. Mary sits with Jesus while Martha is busy doing numerous chores. She gets frustrated and asks Jesus if he thinks it is unfair that her sister isn’t helping. Jesus responded by saying Mary is doing what I want her to do.
Martha learned a pivotal lesson that day- sometimes the best thing we can do is simply stop doing. Jesus loved Mary and Martha just because of who they were. In the end, it didn’t matter what Martha did. None of those things could make Jesus love Martha more. The only thing that was important was to be with Jesus. You are the same. You are loved just because you are you.
