She was hindered. Troubled. There was no crisis. No sickness. But, she was anxious, distracted with cares! She was actually over-occupied with cares! There was company in the house and she felt the burden to serve them.
" But her fault was that she grew “distracted with much serving,” so that she forgot Him and only remembered the service! She overrode her union with Christ by her service of Christ. Martha’s fault, then, was that she grew bothered."
Margaret was born in Hannibal, Missouri in 1867 and grew up just blocks from the Mississippi river. She was a 'doer' to say the least. I doubt the word 'cumbered' was ever applied to Maggie. Her greatest crisis was the moment the Titanic hit an iceberg.
Reports say that Margaret helped load others into lifeboats and was then forced to board boat six. She and other women worked to keep spirits up....she even begged the quartermaster to go back and pick up other passengers who were yet struggling in the water. Robert Hichens was anxious, saying: "we're going to die, no one knows we are out here, it's all over for all of us!" It was Margaret and the other women in the lifeboat who worked together to keep the spirits up, and dispel the gloom which Hichens broadcast to the occupants of lifeboat six. Maggie became angry with Hichens and threatened to throw him overboard!
Hichens refused to turn around and lifeboat six never returned. They were later rescued by the Carpathia after spending many long hours in the boat. Margaret Brown was not asked to testify at the hearing after the wreck because she was a woman. Unhindered, she wrote her own account of the event in newspapers in Denver, New York, and Paris. Later, she helped found the Tatanic Survivors Committee...and later ran for the senate (at a time when women were not even allowed to vote). She pulled herself up by her bootstraps and made a great life for herself when it was difficult to do so.
Unencumbered, Unhindered, Maggie:
In a letter to her daughter shortly after the Titanic sinking, she wrote:
"After being brined, salted, and pickled in mid ocean I am now high and dry...I have had flowers, letters, telegrams--people until I am befuddled. They are petitioning Congress to give me a medal...If I must call a specialist to examine my head it is due to the title of Heroine of the Titanic."
And...in a letter to her attorney, she wired:
"Thanks for the kind thoughts. Water was fine and swimming good. Neptune was exceedingly kind to me and I am now high and dry."
Margaret Brown was never called Molly....that name was attached to her by Hollywood as they created The Unsinkable Molly Brown. However, Maggie was unsinkable because of her strength!
We are presented with many opportunities to become 'sinkable' - as Martha when she became hindered and troubled in serving her guests at the precise day that Jesus was in the house!
Today, will I respond in strength or will I sink in anxiety?
As a temple of the Holy Spirit, with the Godhead bodily living inside me, I am Unsinkable. In any given situation I can make the choice to be a Martha, or a Margaret.
In the presence of Jesus I can choose to be a Mary,. Sitting at the feet of Jesus will make me Unsinkable in any situation!
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| Margaret Brown with the Captain Roston of the Carpathia |
Margaret Tobin Brown died of a brain tumor on 26 October 1932, at the Barbizon Hotel in New York where she had been working with young actresses. After a simple funeral service Maggie was buried, next to J.J., in Long Island's Holy Rood Cemetery.
