Do you remember the story of Mary and Martha in the Bible? (Luke 10:38-42)

I have what I call "Martha Moments."  I had one just the other day.

It's where I forget the important things and get distracted. 
On this particular day I was distracted by household duties, although it doesn't always have to be the case.
Here's the play by play:

We were all in the basement.  I look around and see toys scattered...everywhere. 
The kids and Jeff were playing foosball and having a great time.  I cleaned, they played.  I cleaned, they played.  No one asked to help - they ignored me as I was bending over and laboriously picking up the pieces after what seemed a post tornado setting. 
Then they asked me to join and play. 
It irritated me to the point where I had had it.
"You know, none of you have offered to help, I'm doing all the cleaning, and that's pretty rude."

Now, I can guarantee you that if I did stop and drop everything to play, the cleaning would not have been done.  We, as a family, tend to be slobs.  We move on to the next fun thing and rarely stop to clean, and it is so frustrating for me.

However, my frustration got the best of me, which it did Martha.  I should have made a deal- discuss with them that I was frustrated, agree to play with my family asking that they help me clean after 5-10 minutes of play. 

Instead, I scolded them.  All of them. 
Did the room get clean?  Yep.
Did my family then help?  Yep.
Did I ever play foosball with them?  Nope.
There's the Mary part I missed.

Does that mean drop your priorities to having a clean house?  Forget cleaning and have fun fun fun?
Absolutely not. I don't think the Lord wants us to be slobs, I really don't.
I think He would like us to be responsible and pick up after ourselves, and I believe He wants me to teach this to my children.  However, in those moments, those valuable moments that need to be embraced, the house, the car, the work, the ...whatever can wait a minute while we choose the better part.
And then we can get back to the house, the car, the work, the...whatever later.
There is time for quality fun and there is time for cleaning.  We glorify God in our cleaning as well, let's not underestimate the value of that as well.  We absolutely should take care of the things He gives us. 
We need to be responsible with our time given so that we can have a healthy balance. 

Now as they went on their way, he entered a certain village, where a woman named Martha welcomed him into her home. She had a sister named Mary, who sat at the Lord's feet and listened to what he was saying. But Martha was distracted by her many tasks; so she came to him and asked, "Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to do all the work by myself? Tell her then to help me." But the Lord answered her, "Martha, Martha, you are worried and distracted by many things; there is need of only one thing. Mary has chosen the better part, which will not be taken away from her" (Luke 10:38-42).