Ponderings

It's ten days until Christmas!  I simply can't believe it!  When I was younger, I was always annoyed at adults who made comments about the time "flying away" or something to that effect.  Well, now that I am getting a little bit older, I catch myself using those same phrases that once bothered me so much.  :)

"And all who heard it marveled at those things which were told them by the shepherds.  But Mary kept all these things and pondered them in her heart."

Luke 2:18-19

Speaking of Christmas...I've been thinking about Mary a lot lately.  In verse 18, Luke writes about how everyone who heard the news marveled over it, and, I assume, they were all discussing it.  As Mary was the mother of Jesus and a main character in this "play", I would expect her to be talking with everyone and sharing everything she knew, sharing her opinions and her thoughts.  But verse 19 says that "Mary kept all these things and pondered them in her heart."  

Ponder: to consider something deeply and thoughtfully; to mediate.

Obviously Mary didn't understand what all of these events meant as they were occurring.  I think that her "pondering" showed her devotion and dedication to the Lord.  She trusted Him.  Just a chapter earlier in Luke's account, Mary replies to the startling news that the angel brings by saying "Behold the maidservant of the Lord!  Let it be to me according to your word."  Her attitude of pondering events are a continuation of this trust in the Lord.  She didn't feel the need to talk with other people or share her information.  She rested in the Lord, assured that He had a plan.  I am sure that that wasn't easy...my own response would be completely different!  "Lord!  What WERE You thinking?!  You really want Your Son born in a stable??" etc, etc, etc.

I don't have children yet...but even so, I am crushed at the thought of ever having to choose someone else to raise them if something happened to me (ie legal guardians; godparents).  It just seems heart-wrenching to have to decide on someone else to raise your children, even more so if you were there to watch it.  But isn't that was Christmas is about?  God sent His Son to earth as a baby and chose Joseph, the simple carpenter, to be His surrogate father.   Joseph was human and so I am sure that he made parenting mistakes.  What a huge responsibility to father the Son of God!  God knew when Jesus came to earth as a baby that He was going to die...it's strange to think about Christmas from God's perspective as the Father.  Anyway, that's just something that I was thinking about!

On a different note...I have been reading and thinking a lot about the important effects that the previous generations have their posterity.  This had encouraged me to be praying for my future in-laws.  People always joke about how terrible in-laws are...as George Banks says in Father Of The Bride "Who made up that term: in laws?  What does that mean?  We're legally bound to these people?!"  I am praying that I join a family who passionately love the Lord and are leaving a legacy of godliness, who welcome me as a new member of the family (NOT an "in-law"), who will be godly grandparents, aunts and uncles for my children to know and adore.  Families are important!