Every year, at Christmastime, our family reads The Christmas Story. As a child, my family read it together on Christmas Eve. Now, my children look forward to sharing the reason for the season as we enjoy the traditions of the holiday at our house. It's found in Luke 2 and is the written account of Jesus' birth. There's a verse I love, though have often missed, toward the end of the account. It reads simply, "But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart." (19)
Young Mary, a virgin visited by an angel and told that she would be the mother of the Son of God. Traveled, pregnant, on a donkey, to Bethlehem to participate in Caesar's census.
Gave birth in a stable.
Wrapped her child in cloths and laid him in a feeding trough.
Visited by shepherds and angels.
Then, fled to Egypt to escape Herod's jealousy.
Mother of a king.
Mary "treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart". She was a young girl on the brink of a bright future with a new husband, when things turned suddenly awry. In the course of one sleepless night, the outcome of her fate (and ours) changed forever. How do you think she felt?
For the first time this year, we included a Bible verse on the front of our Christmas card. I'm wondering if Mary remembered these verses as she watched God's promise to her unfold? Proverbs 3:3-4 says, "Let love and faithfulness never leave you; bind them around your neck, write them on the tablet of your heart. Then you will win favor and a good name in the sight of God and man."
When Mary "pondered", I think she was writing a history of all that transpired on the tablet of her heart. In a song she penned, she declares, "My soul glorifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, for he has been mindful of the humble state of his servant. From now on all generations will call me blessed, for the Mighty One has done great things for me--holy is his name." (Luke 1:46-49)
Clearly, she clung to the promise of Proverbs 3. At the risk of sounding blasphemous, I used to read these verses and think that Mary sounded anything but humble. Now, I get it. She understood that when you let love and faithfulness never leave you, when you bind them around your neck and write them on the tablet of your heart, you win favor and a good name in the sight of both God and man. Two thousand years later, we honor Mary for her faith in the face of humiliation and adversity. Additionally, we glorify God because he chose Mary to be the mother of his precious son.
What does it mean to ponder? How do you bind love and faithfulness around your neck? What does it look like to write these things on the tablet of your heart? Reading these words now, I think it's how we remember what God has done on our behalf.
We recognize.
We reflect.
We remember.
Over and over again, and throughout both the Old and New Testaments, we find that God's chosen people offered prayers of thanksgiving and praise. Their love and faithfulness filled their hearts with the message that God keeps his promises, and like Mary, we can say with faith, "I am the Lord's servant....May it be to me as you have said." (Luke 1:38) Many times throughout her life, I have to believe that Mary consulted the tablet of her heart. If she's like me, then she needed to tap into what was written there to remind herself that in the midst of heartache, pain, suffering, and even joy, God reigns. His love endures forever.
May you remember the message of God's love for you this Christmas. He sent his only son into the world to live and die for our sins. He conquered death to live again that you who were lost might find him and accept him and receive eternal life.
Merry Christmas!
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