Let’s take a cue from Mary this year. Let’s ponder.
When Gabe the angel came visit, he opened this everyday conversation with, “Greetings, favored one! The Lord is with you.â€
Of course, this wasn’t an everyday conversation. It’s not every day that an angel chats with an young teenage girl in a small town far from the center of anything. It was an extraordinary conversation. Mary knew it. It perplexed her. What did she do? She pondered.
It’s easy to go through this season without pondering. There is so much to do. There are so many carols to sing, so many gifts to wrap, so many parties, and gatherings, and concerts, and on and on. It’s easy to wake up in January having celebrated much, but pondered little.
For some of us, the season is a little more blue. We are supposed to be happy. We do our best to put a smile on our face. We try and get into the spirit of things. But on the inside, the more we try and be happy, the more we slide into the darker corners of our hearts. We grieve the loss of a loved one, or struggle with an inner hurt. We wake up in January, emotionally wrung out from a holiday known for joy.
Whether we are on the happy side or the blue side of the holiday season, I believe that we can grow from Mary’s example. We can pause to ponder.
When we ponder, we pause to turn things over in our heads and hearts. We listen. We share. We wonder. We question. We doubt. We examine. Sometimes, we even come to believe. That is to say, we come to discover that the good news of a coming savior is not just for others, it’s for us.
Perhaps you would benefit from some communal pondering. Ponder with a friend. Ponder with your church. Our worship services, sunday school classes, mid-week bible studies, and more are there to give us an opportunity to ponder the significance and depth of the one whose coming we await. When we ponder together, we are reminded that we are not alone.
After Mary pondered, she was able to say yes to God’s invitation. She ended up singing a pretty profound and joyous song of good news that still echoes today.
When we ponder, it gives us opportunity to sense an angel’s greeting (It might not be the angel Gabriel. Maybe it will be angel Gus, or angel Betty, or Angel Hala), “favored one! The Lord is with you.â€
And we can sense that in the midst of everything, God is waiting to bring peace to our hearts and peace to the world.
May you ponder this Advent and Christmas, and may you be blessed.
Paul
