So we get to Christmas and it has all unfolded. Mary and Joseph fled, they end up in a stable in Bethlehem where she gave birth to Jesus. There is all this hubbub, the angels, the shepherds, …. Only one person has really been through this from the beginning – Mary. Perhaps that is why I like this verse so much:
“But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart.”
Though she has been through it all Mary, it seems, can’t make full sense out of it. She can’t just wrap it up into a neat package and move on. No, she has lived through all these events and still “pondered them in her heart.” Such a great word – “ponder.” (In my on line dictionary: to “think about something carefully, especially before making a decision or reaching a conclusion.” But it occurs to me that if Mary can be in the midst of it and still has to ponder it, then it follows that I am not supposed to have it all figured out. I, like Mary, am allowed to read and think of these events and ponder them in my heart before reaching a decision or conclusion. And I do.
It occurs to me... 