People Before Tasks

Every time I hear the story of Jesus with Mary and Martha read, told or referred to, I cringe. I do this because I know I'm a "Martha". I'm task oriented, versus people oriented. I get things done, but the people around me may feel neglected or swept aside. These days the "people around me" happen to be my children. Even though I homeschool, each subject, project, or assignment can turn into something to be marked off the to-do list. Today, my day started with taking Sam to preschool, then running errands. By the time I got home, very little school work was done before it was time to pick Sam up. We had to eat lunch, and with every domestic chore, or interruption (usually by a certain 4 month old), we got further and further behind. I will say that we finished, with the exception of some reading I wanted to do. We do quite a bit of reading each day, and we did do some today. I don't have a strict schedule, but I do try to keep things moving along and utilize our time wisely, in the midst of caring for a home, a young child and an infant. Not to mention caring for Lauren's whole self, not just the parts of her that need to be educated.
Today, in between subjects, in the middle of making  a bottle for Libby, Lauren came to me and said, "I want to snuggle." Now, part of me is thrilled that my 8 year old still wants to snuggle, and that she feels secure enough to voice her needs. The task master in me sort of groaned inwardly and thought about all we had left to do. However, I smiled and said, "Ok. Let me fix this bottle for Libby, and you can sit with us while I feed it to her." I sat in the recliner and held both my girls, talking and laughing, enjoying. She didn't sit there for a very long time, but she got what she needed.
Later on, Sam was carrying around a little nerf ball, asking Lauren to play with him. She was busy. He hung his head and said "No one will play ball with me." I wondered why he didn't ask me. I wasn't sure I really wanted to know the answer to that. So tonight, after all the work was done, before his dad put him in the bathtub, I said, "Sam, get your ball. I'll play with you." His face lit up. "Thank you, Mommy!". I held and nursed Libby (and shielded her from the ball) with my left arm, and played short distance catch with Sam.  He lost interest fairly quickly, but was happy. My children really require so much and so little of me, all at the same time. I want to be Mary when I grow up.