And Jesus answered and said to her, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and troubled about many things. But one thing is needed, and Mary has chosen that good part, which will not be taken away from her.” (Luke 10:1, 41, 42 NKJV)

With everything that’s been going on lately, we’ve been feeling like it was time for a small getaway. Since we couldn’t celebrate our wedding anniversary and Kenny’s birthday is coming up, I took my mother’s advice and “surprised” Kenny with going to Naples for two days. (Note: Next time, I must not use Kenny’s Priceline account or else he will find out through an email confirmation and the surprise will no longer be a surprise!)

Sometimes when everything starts to get confusing, it’s good to take ourselves outside the box to understand life more clearly. For someone who is going through cancer, my mom has demonstrated a biblical selflessness I have yet to acquire. She is constantly reminding me of the importance to be there for my husband and to do what God has asked me to do above all, even if it means not visiting her often. Between Kenny, work, and my mom, my hands are full and my mind has been occupied with a lot of questions. One thing I know is that in times of difficulties, it is easy to become occupied with everyday tasks and pull a “Martha” and be less of a “Mary.” Lately, I’ve been using the phrase “I’m busy” a lot. I used to hate that phrase because every time someone used it on me, I thought it was more of a tool of avoidance. Now I know its ok to be busy for others, but for God?

Who can blame Martha? I mean, she’s busy because she’s serving the Son of God and she probably wants everything to go perfect! Except she is serving the Son of God and He doesn’t expect perfection from us. He just wants us! He wants our hearts, our minds, our attention, our devotion, our presence…

He’s not like us… He doesn’t care if His food is cooked to perfection, or if the beverages are chilled, or if the cushion in His chair gives Him the right support, or if He even has a chair for that matter. He just wanted Martha to enjoy His company as much as He wants us to seek it.

There has been a lot of changes at work. New rules have been implemented from how to wear our hair and our uniform to how to do work better as a team and how to execute side work more effectively. I’m sure many of us are having a hard time applying these new rules, I mean, we already had a habit on how to do things before, why change?

One thing Mary demonstrates in this passage is discipline. She’s not sitting at Jesus’ feet because she’s lazy, but she’s just doing what she knows God wants her to do. She’s being obedient and most importantly she WANTS to be obedient. There’s legalism, which religion teaches: “We HAVE to do this if we want God’s approval.” Then there’s godly discipline that teaches us that we will do what is asked from us because we love God and we want to please Him in everything we do, whether it’s at home or at the workplace.

We live to change! God requires us to change because that’s the only way to attain godliness. Paul is very clear:

But reject profane and old wives’ fables, and exercise yourself toward godliness. For bodily exercise profits a little, but godliness is profitable for all things, having promise of the life that now is and of that which is to come. (I Timothy 4:7, 8 NKJV)

Then there’s the famous:

Now godliness with contentment is great gain. (I Timothy 6:6 NKJV)

Paul focuses on attaining godliness in most of 1 Timothy, but Peter also takes note. In 2 Peter 1:6-7, he lists godliness as one of the virtues in growing our faith. Growth is everywhere; we experience it in our bodies and we see how every living creature goes through changes. Just as our physical bodies grow, our spirit must also be going through stages of transformation. Peter ends his list with love because love is the ultimate goal. We can’t be godly without love as it is the main ingredient in God’s cookbook!

It’s comical that getting away facilitates seeing the bigger picture. Naples is so laid back, we didn’t rush to do anything. Then we went to Tommy Bahama’s Tropical Cafe for dinner. The food was very good (4/5), service was excellent (5/5), and the ambiance resonates our time here: laid back! (4.5/5).

We took a friend’s suggestion and we went with open minds. We noticed the menu was a bit overpriced for how casual the restaurant seemed. We started with some delicious bread service with a cinnamon-ginger butter. Then Kenny ordered a cup of the Crab Bisque, which was the best we have had so far! The creaminess of the bisque and the flavor of the crab, it tasted fresh and the consistency was just perfect! Then we had my favorite dish of all: World Famous Coconut Shrimp with a papaya-mango chutney and an Asian slaw that had the perfect touch of lime juice. The sourness of the slaw and sweetness of the coconut in the shrimp and the chutney was a the perfect balance. Kenny thought it needed salt to bring all the flavors together.

Then as we were awaiting our meal, Kenny noticed a culinary sin. We saw one of the cooks eating a sandwich as he was cooking in the kitchen. That’s one thing we love about open kitchens, we can see everything! Our food was amazing! But the unimaginable happened, my Parmesan Crusted Sanibel Chicken was very crispy on the outside, but raw inside! Normally, I don’t order chicken in restaurants, but our server recommended this dish and I always go with the server’s suggestions. As a server myself, I like to guide my guests with what I think it’s best! I was so disappointed because the dish had the perfect flavors, so I waited again. Our server gave me the option to have the soup of my choice as I wait and I would have gotten the chicken tortilla to try something different, but I truly wanted my own bisque! When my chicken arrived to the table, Kenny was done with his Thai Shrimp and Scallops with lemongrass, coconut curry reduction and almond rice. His meal sounded better on the menu, but it was still very good. My chicken, however, was the winner! Stuffed with red peppers and herbed cheese and served on a delicious red pepper cream sauce. My favorite was mixing the whipped chive potatoes with the sauce and haricot verts. Kenny was left hungry from his meal, he joined me in enjoying my dish.

Finally, we left a little room for dessert and had the Piña Colada Cake, which we had to take with us to the hotel.

Then Kenny took me for a walk by the Naples Pier and watched the sunset. Great way of ending our night…sitting at Jesus’ feet!