Pondering

Read: Luke 2: 41-52

Over the next week, our devotions are going to be centered around Mary, the mother of Jesus, and embracing and meeting the Messiah through the perspective of his mother. In the Eastern Orthodox and Eastern Catholic branches of the Christian faith, Mary is given the title theotakos; the English translation for this title is "God-bearer". It gives a beautiful image of Mary, the literal and figurative bearer of Christ to the world.  Across the spectrum of the Church, Mary is given varying degrees of reverence--some traditions make her an object of devotion and extreme importance in the life of that particular tradition, other traditions marginalize her as unimportant in the "big picture" of Jesus' life, death, and resurrection. I don't intend to engage those differences in this space. Instead, my hope is that we might, in preparation for the coming of the Messiah, engage those things that we can learn from the woman who is the mother of our Lord.

Virtually all the times we encounter Mary in Scripture involve her being enshrouded in crisis. Consider, if you will, these examples: an angel bursts upon the world of an unwed teenager to announce the girl will be pregnant by the Holy Spirit, in the time right after giving birth shepherds appear to worship her child, and having to deal with the ever-increasing independence of a twelve year old. It certainly seems as if Mary's life is steeped in stress and the unexpected. In each instance, though, Mary's response is virtually the same. We are told, especially by Luke, that Mary "ponders" and "treasures" what God says and does. In spite of those stressful circumstances, Mary responds in a contemplative way, seeking to comprehend and be at peace with what God is doing.

I wonder if we could take a lesson from Mary. Each one of us finds our life full of stresses; whether it be the stress of work, of parenthood, or perhaps the stress of making ends meet from day to day. On top of all these other stresses, we find ourselves in the midst of the stresses of the holiday season. How do we handle those stresses of life and the holiday season? What do yo do when it seems like the world is just caving in on you? I cannot begin to imagine some of those stresses that Mary felt. Yet, through all those crisis moments, she stopped to reflect upon what God was doing at that moment.

This holiday season presents us many opportunities to contemplate what God is doing. Those moments might happen during worship on Sunday morning (or whenever you happen to worship), they might occur in your own time of private prayer and Scripture study, or they might come when you just can't take the stress anymore. Whenver those moments come, why not take a moment and ponder and treasure what God is doing? Perhaps God is trying to get your attention somehow, perhaps God is revealing to you all over again the wonder and mystery of the Messiah--God's gift to the world, or perhaps God is simply inviting you to stand back and see what God is going to do next. Whatever God's message to you might be, I pray you might find the time and the space to ponder and treasure the mystery of the Christmas season, and the wonder of God's amazing love.