“But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart.” - Luke 2:19 (NIV)
One of my favorite holiday movies is “The Nativity.” While I understand the artistic liberties that have been taken to fill in details, I am particularly fond of the scene where Mary and Joseph are journeying back to Bethlehem for the census. They stop for the night, lighting a fire for their dinner. They don’t yet know each other very well so the atmosphere between them is a bit awkward. But Mary is filled with awe and wonder at her circumstances, and she voices her thoughts aloud to Joseph. “Do you ever wonder when we’ll know?” she asks, referring to that point when it would become evident that Jesus is not just an ordinary child. Her personal question invokes a similarly personal response from Joseph. “I wonder if I’ll ever be able to teach him anything.”
So many things to ponder as they’ve traveled more than one hundred miles by donkey and on foot. I imagine they each wondered why, out of all the people in the world, they were chosen to bear this great responsibility. I also imagine that they wondered if their child would look or act differently than other children, and how people would respond to him. He would be God’s own Son after all, so would there be noticeable differences? Would he play and do all the silly things other children do? Would he cry or get hurt? And how would the people in their own village respond to him? Knowing he wasn’t Joseph’s son, would they treat him as an outcast? Yes, there was much to wonder about.
While I love this time of year, all the festivities, the gifts, the cookie baking and the decorations, I still look forward to sitting quietly by the lit tree at night and re-reading the Christmas story. I love pondering all the things our God has done for us through His Son, much the way I imagine Mary pondered these things in her heart as she gazed upon her newborn son.
How about you? In the midst of all your holiday plans, might you find some time to just sit quietly, in a space you enjoy, and read Luke chapter two? Might you possibly ponder the missing parts of the story (as Mary and Joseph likely did) and rekindle your own awe and wonder?