What keeps you from giving your best?

I know that Sunday was Palm Sunday. But today, as I'm continuing to prepare my heart in anticipation of Easter, I wanted to back up a bit and go over again what happened to Jesus the day before Palm Sunday. So I was reading in John 12:1-8; the account of when Mary, the sister of Lazarus, anointed Jesus' feet with costly perfume and wiped His feet with her hair.

This has long been one of my favorite Bible accounts.

I'm moved by Mary's humility. Mary was the sister of Lazarus, the man at whose home Jesus had come to for dinner. My understanding is that it was a slave's job to wash the guests feet. I've read that no woman in that day would be seen with her hair uncovered and down. But here I see Mary not only uncovering her head, but taking on the role of a servant to wash Jesus' feet and then use her hair to dry them. She risked the ridicule of those around her to give to her Savior her very best.

I'm moved by Mary's generosity. I've repeatedly read that the perfume that Mary used was very expensive—worth about a year's wages. Some commentators think that it may have been bought as an investment … possibly to be included in her dowry. This was her most prized possession, the best she had to give. Not only was Mary's gift expensive, but it was costly to her reputation. The disciples all rebuked her for giving her gift to Jesus. Judas said, "This should have been sold and the money given to the poor!"

As I think on this account I find myself asking if there are any opinions of people, criticism or careless comments that may be keeping me from giving my best?

As I think about giving my best, I realize that my best is really my everything. That any one act or gift just symbolizes the whole.