"Treasured Up All These Things"

Luke 2:19  "But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in their heart"

This verse is in reference to all that transpired on Christmas night and Mary's reaction to it all.  Can you even imagine?  Having just given birth to the savior of the world in a lowly manger, a new cosmic attraction in the sky shining its brilliance upon your location, and scores and scores of heavenly and earthly visitors bringing gifts and singing praises?!

How could she take it all in?  I laughingly joke that one of the reasons we stopped at two kids was because I couldn't handle the weight of responsibility of recording all of the special moments of yet another child.  For 10 years, I've lived with the guilt that I've failed my daughter to such a great degree in not recording any of her achievements in comparison to Brayden's baby years, only to recently find her Baby Calendar and discover that I did okay through at least her first 8 months.  Phew...but the contents may never get recorded in her "Baby Book"- it just feels so daunting of a project to take on the enormity of recording the history of something so miraculous.  Again and again I lament the fact that I was not a "Blogger" in those days...though I'm sure, even then, I would have felt guilt.

So, back to Mary.  She didn't have her Smartphone at her side to record the music of the angels, the greetings from the shepherds or preserve her own thoughts (much less take a video of the birth).  There was no Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter feed to share His arrival.  Instead, she was called to simply "treasure up all these things and ponder them in her heart".

Are there events in your life that you have done this with?  Perhaps it is the first time you knew, "this person was the one" (though for me, I said that three times before John!).  Perhaps it was the gazing upon your new sleeping infant.  Maybe it was the unexpected praise from someone who's opinion means the world to you.

This week, I've done a lot of treasuring and pondering.  I've also recorded as possible, preserving some poignant texts to hard copy paper, and putting a very meaningful Christmas card in the family drawer of keepsakes.  I know that a lot of people like face to face interaction, but there's also something to be said about how something written can be kept and re-read, and re-treasured.

There's also been the special "moments" of this week.  Watching the snowfall in giant cotton ball flakes covering the ground white as I wrapped Christmas presents and watched "The Santa Clause 2".  (Perfectly serendipitous).  Or finding the one thing that would distract/comfort an unhappy (teething-just had shots) Whitley by replaying over and over the video of her laughing to Brayden's "Hi's" - and watching her coo in response.

And, let it also be said, that this week has also been tough.  A special friend of mine is going through a lot of trials and it's hard to wonder what on earth could be done to help.  But, God is good, and things are improving - and, eventually, this trial, I'm confident, will be but a chapter in this person's life story of how God was glorified through the triumph that will come.

No matter how much I plan, plot, and prepare - Christmas always comes too fast.  There's never enough time to just ponder and treasure, but I sure am glad that God put it in scripture just how important that is to do.