One Thing Needful

I had the chance last week to be a guest on the Magnify podcast hosted by someone I absolutely love, Kathryn Davis. She and I taught seminary together at Pleasant Grove for a couple years and she became such a friend and confidant. Reconnecting with her was so, so needed for my heart.

For the episode, we studied and then discussed a talk given by Patricia Holland back in 1987 entitled "One Thing Needful." I highly recommend it for every woman. My thoughts today are about a specific takeaway from this talk, but feel free to click the image below to listen to the episode to hear our full discussion:

I wanted to write today about one of my impressions that came in studying Sister Holland's words. She opens with a story about when she was first released from the Young Women General Presidency. She explains how she felt lost, confused, and was worried if she did enough for her calling, if she was enough as a mother without her calling. She felt the need to run faster, do more and be more. Her husband was then called on an assignment to Israel. He insisted that she come with him and try to recuperate in the Holy Land. So she did. She found herself one day overlooking the Sea of Galilee, reading from Luke 10. It was in these scriptures about Mary and Martha, next to a sea full of such history, that she found some healing for her soul. She writes:

Our loving Father in Heaven seemed to be whispering to me, “You don’t have to worry over so many things. The one thing that is needful—the only thing that is truly needful—is to keep your eyes toward the sun—my Son.” Suddenly I had true peace. I knew that my life had always been in his hands—from the very beginning! The sea lying peacefully before my eyes had been tempest-tossed and dangerous—many, many times. All I needed to do was to renew my faith, and get a firm grasp on his hand—and together we could walk on the water.

She experienced the promise given in Matthew 11 verses 28-30. Come to Jesus and He will give you rest. Something that struck me, is that the promise is not resolution. The promise is not that all of our problems will be solved and concerns eradicated. The promise is rest. Bring your burdens, bring what makes you weary, bring it all and put it on the table for a second. Unload it. Set it down. And pick up His yoke for a while.

And what is His yoke? It is loving others, serving others, filling others' needs. His yoke is explained when He proclaimed, "I seek not mine own will, but the will of my Father" (John 5:30). It is selfless, it is love, it is sacrifice, it is outward. His yoke is not only light, but also the key to finding that rest for our own souls; that healing respite from the 'many things' that trouble us.

But, let's be honest, it is not realistic to simply leave our abundant issues at the feet of the Savior and walk away. It doesn't make much sense to just hand over our trials and neglect them entirely. I think this scripture is instead proposing that we recharge in Christ. We plug into His eternal battery pack, so to speak, so that when we must face our challenges we face them with Him. Or, in Sister Holland's words above: All I needed to do was to renew my faith, and get a firm grasp on his hand—and together we could walk on the water.

As I mention in the podcast, going to Jesus (i.e. D&C 1:38) will not remove the waves and winds that surround us. It will not always provide an immediate and obvious resolution to our problems or reversal of our tears. Going to Jesus and trying to emulate Him simply gives us the power needed to face our daily struggles and very real heartaches similarly to how He would.

These days, I find myself needing more rest than usual. In the sense of actual sleep and naps because #kids, but also in this sense of rest for my soul. If our soul is our spirit and body, then it includes our mind and our heart as well; our deepest sorrows and most troubled thoughts. Every way we may feel broken. And, to be honest, I have felt pretty broken recently. What a perfect time to go sit at the feet of Jesus and listen to His word. Because even when my life feels broken, my soul can find that healing respite.

All I know is that when I take time to sit and rest with Jesus as Mary does at the end of Luke 10 and as Sister Holland does by the Sea of Galilee, I am far more able and capable to face the day with more patience, more grace, more love, more peace - more Him. So in our Martha moments, when we are preoccupied with a to-do list, an abundance of worries, and harrowing feelings of inadequacy and insecurity, may we remember that but one thing is truly needful: to sit at the feet of our Savior and hear his word. While there are many ways to accomplish this, the promise remains the same for all: rest unto your soul.