Mary & Martha

I just went back and read "Genesis" and realized that my sister and I sound like Mary and Martha. Are all sisters this way? There was never any doubt in my mind that her openness was a blessing. I like to think I am not so much like Martha because I did know and appreciate this about her. If my sister had been around when Jesus was in human form she would have definitely been worshipping Him more than anyone around. More than me. Foot-washing with perfume and using her hair to dry his feet? That was so her. You think it's beautiful when you read about it, but that's only because you're reading it. When you see people like this in the flesh you almost never recognize them for what they are unless, like me, you are looking for them and sometimes even then they're hard to recognize.

Unlike Martha, I would never have complained that I was doing all the housework and she was wasting time. I kept my eyes on my own paper. I would have enjoyed every minute of what I was doing and if I found myself not wanting to do it I would have just stopped. That was the thing about both of us that we had in common. I'm glad we figured it out before it was too late. I can remember praying about our differences and worrying that it would forever separate us. "Just love her as she is" the answer came back loud and clear. "She's doing the best she can with what God made her and if she could do any differently, she would." So I stopped wanting her to change and I just loved her.

This picture of her was taken on my wedding day. At her funeral one of her friends told me that she'd come home afterward the happiest she'd ever seen her. I think my wedding day was when she finally realized that my way could lead to happiness too. There was a moment in the ladies dressing room at the church when it was just the two of us alone. "I love you sissy", she'd said in that childlike way of hers. "I love you too, Pearl" I'd said wearily. And with that exchange I think we each finally achieved a blend of our two kinds of love; her emotional kind and my practical action-oriented kind finally morphing into two loving, whole, well-balanced women.