”All who heard the shepherds’ story were astonished, but Mary kept all these things in her heart and thought about them often.“
Luke 2:18-19 NLT
I think because it’s the Christmas season and so many of us are writing about Advent scriptures and themes, I have pondered longer this year on the idea of Mary storing up ‘all these things’ in her heart.
I often wonder exactly what Mary stored in her heart because she was a flesh and blood woman with feelings enmeshed in a particular culture. She held a particular status in society, and she was a new mother on the run. And she, over the past year, had encountered heaven on earth in ways impossible to communicate except with others who had also encountered the supernatural.
Mary was chosen to live straddling heaven and earth on the rest of her life’s journey. There was much to store up in her heart and ponder. I don’t know if she kept any hurt feelings or doubts, or even hopes of being avenged mixed in with all the grand treasures from heaven, but I think it’s possible.
And I think all of us who place our lives surrendered into the pierced hands of Jesus, are called to the same straddling in our walk to the finish line. I know that I have encountered the supernatural saving grace of Christ and am forever changed from the inside out. I have stored up in my heart for many years, the multitude of encounters with people strategically placed on my path, and miracles out of thin air, and I ponder the majesty and magnitude of God to allow me to know Him in this way.
And yet, I am flesh and blood human with feelings and experiences for a lifetime of loving and living on a broken earth. I have been loved, befriended, and respected by some, and I’ve been doubted, discounted, and used by others. And so in my most honest moments like this one, I have to be aware that I’ve surely stored up some bitterness, resentment, and unforgiveness.
”A good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and an evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For the mouth speaks what the heart is full of.“
Luke 6:45 NIV
From time to time, Holy Spirit calls for a ‘de-clutter’ day. It’s a sanctified, holy, and anointed time in which Holy Spirit helps me search out the deepest, darkest corners of my storage space. Together we locate, identify, and place what can’t be stored in heaven right where it belongs – in the scarred hands of Jesus.
Is this Advent season a good time to ponder what’s stored up in our hearts?
Let’s ask Holy Spirit if there’s anything He finds cluttering our hearts that will not be stored in Heaven, and to help us deal with it today.
”Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. Point out anything in me that offends you, and lead me along the path of everlasting life.“
Psalms 139:23-24 NLT
Live Love Brightly,
Lisa
Today I’m linking up with Kate, and writing friends, for her last Five Minute Friday of 2023!
Today’s word prompt is STORE.
I love this Lisa. Yes, I’ve had several of those de-clutter days over the past couple of years, getting rid of decaying rubbish stored in my heart – stuff I had no idea was there… sometimes one catches just a whiff… the Holy Spirit loves to help root them out! Happy New Year.
Happy New Year… 2024! What goodness might God have in store for us this year? Thank you for coming by to read and encourage. I love it when someone sees Jesus here.🌸
I can say I’ve never contemplated Mary’s pondering all that much. You’ve made me consider such things. 🙂 FMF12
Merry Christmas! Thank you for coming by, reading and commenting. I hope your Advent is spectacular.
My heart and mind are like a shelf
that was built without a back,
but I never see myself
as counting this as kind of lack.
Something gets put on up front,
and something else will fall away,
and nothing in me bears the brunt
of the trials that come each day,
’cause all things come and then they go
to lie beside the road, forgotten,
and in my heart of hearts I know
that I am not churlish, nor rotten.
I’m just a dude who gets along
living every day my song.
Yes, you are a dude with a praise song that just keeps going. Glorious, and good God, He alone knows our path, and the number of our days.
Thank you for coming to read and respond.
I do wonder what Mary treasured in her heart, and how those ponderings were pulled out of storage as the years went by and she watched how God’s plan for her miracle son were unfolding. I think it’s quite possible there were sorrows and questions and fears, and perhaps even more negative things, stored up that she had to let go over time, just as we do. Such wise advice you’ve given to declutter our souls, especially during the Advent season. Visiting from FMF
Hi Kym,
Thank you for reading with me, and taking time to respond. I’m continually encouraged by you through your writing and interactions. Thank you!
Lisa, thank you for encouraging us to de-clutter our souls. As a mother of many, I often contemplated that Mary “pondered these things in her heart” as she was pregnant and nursing babies for many years and this season with little ones lends itself to pondering.
Hi Lisa!
Thank you for visiting me here and taking time to respond. I agree with you regarding the years mommas give to their littles and all the pondering a momma does during those years waiting for God’s promises to be fulfilled. But I do think Mary maybe anticipated, along with the people of Israel, a different type of Messiah who would come and take charge. My heart always hurts for Mary and the abuse her reputation must have taken and yet she knew she had been chosen of God. We will find out one day!