Day Sixty

“But Mary treasured up all these things
and pondered them in her heart.” (Luke 2:19)

Scripture Reading: Luke 2:1–20

While they were there, the time came” (Luke 2:6). Time was God’s first creation. Genesis 1:1 says, “In the beginning.” We could say, “When God first told the clock to tick.” From that instant the clock began ticking toward one moment, the birth of Hope—God, clothed in seven pounds of peeling, pink infant flesh. Perfection wrapped in innocence. The first audible sounds from the Logos, Himself, were hungry wails from a set of lungs no bigger than the center of your palm.

Many believed He was the Messiah, but perhaps only one knew beyond a shadow of a doubt. Her name was Mary. She had never “known” a man, yet in her arms she cuddled a son freshly detached from her body. She witnessed the work of God in ways far beyond what is written. Between the lines of Luke 2 lie incredible experiences. Imagine the first time God crawled. The first time He said, “Mamma.” The first time God bumped His head. God’s first sip from a cup. In a lifetime Mary could never express all the ways she experienced God.

Luke 2:19 records a mother’s practice, “Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart.” She held on to each moment for dear life. The word pondered is sumballo which describes taking many things, casting them together, and considering them as one.13 Mary held the Christ child close to her breast and allowed her mind to drift over the events of the past year: her humble home, the sudden appearance and divine proclamation of the angel, her departure to Elizabeth’s, her parents’ faces when she told them the news, the rumors, Joseph’s reaction, the way she felt when he believed the angel and came for her. The miserable journey to Bethlehem. The first pains of labor. The fear of having no place to give birth. The pain. The joy.

Each experience making up the whole. What held them together as one? The faithfulness of God. He was intimately involved in every piece of the puzzle.

What brings you to this place today? Like Mary, God brought you to this point through a blend of pleasure and pain, faith and sight, questions and certainties. For a few moments reflect on the major events God pieced together to bring you to this point in your spiritual journey. Meditate on the last ten years of your life. Identify five major puzzle pieces God has joined together to make you who and what you are today.

To appreciate God’s work in our lives through pleasure and pain, we must understand that He thinks in terms of the whole. Of completeness. Of pieces that finally fit together as one. Life’s a little easier when we adopt His perspective. Sumballo.

Look at each piece of your life as part of a whole. Has God been faithful? Then treasure these things. And ponder them in your heart.