As I think about Mary, the mother of Jesus, I often think of the heavy emotional toll that her assignment from God took on her. The announcement of Gabriel, the unknowns of carrying in her womb the God of the universe, truths that she sometimes got a glimpse of. The stigma of being pregnant out of wedlock, being pregnant and dealing with the emotions and unknowns of what all this meant. If anyone understood stress, Mary did. While our nativity scenes are sweet and cute, the reality was far from that. 

Reading Mary’s story, there are several times that Luke says this about her. “But Mary treasured up all of these things and pondered them in her heart.” In another instance it says that Jesus’ mother “treasured all these things in her heart.”

I believe that this was a spiritual secret that Mary had. A treasure is something that we keep in a safe and secret place. In this case, it was kept in Mary’s heart. Quietly and safely, out of the public eye. This is where our deepest longings lie, and those things that are most precious to us. In many cases they are spiritual things that are ours alone as God reveals himself to us. But Mary did not only keep these treasures in her heart, but she pondered them in her heart. She thought about them and tried to make sense of them.

In order to do this, we need times of quietness and peace where our mind is free to wander where it will, mull on what God has been doing in our lives, and talk to him about those deep places of our lives. Perhaps that was easier in that day when there was no social media, I phones, television, and life was slower. But the deepest things we ponder cannot be considered well when our lives are too busy to slow down, and find rest, and peace and quietness. One cannot ponder on the run or be aware of those things we treasure when we are in a hurry.

As we approach the wonder of Christmas day, what are the things that you treasure in your heart? Where has God been good to you?  What are the things that you need to take the time to ponder in quietness? How can you find time to stop and think deeply, without hurry, without needing to find answers but allowing God to reveal His insights to your heart? This is what it means to be still and know that He is God, but more than that, to be still and ponder His treasures to you and allow Him to speak to you.

Frenetic lives yield unquiet souls. Don’t allow that to be the norm in your life. Take a habit from the life of Mary: treasure those things God is doing in your life and ponder them in your heart. Clarity comes in the pondering because we are quiet enough to hear the faint voice of the Father. 

Father, I thank you for the example of Mary in her obedience and her ability to treasure those things you were doing in her life. Help me to slow down long enough and often enough to do the same. Help me to recognize the treasures you have given me and to ponder them. Amen.