"But Mary kept all these things and pondered them in her heart." I've done a lot of pondering this week. I had several ideas for a blog, which initially started out pretty good, but the more I tried to develop those ideas, the more I just felt led to keep it short, sweet, and simple.
I wish I could be more of the woman that Mary was. She had the most amazing news ever known to man, yet she kept it in her heart. Yet people KNEW - not from what she said, but by her spirit. She just pondered. Oh, I'm very sure that she did indeed talk at times about the upcoming birth of the Savior Of The World. Wouldn't you like to have been a fly on the wall when she went to visit Elizabeth!
But this Christmas season, and all through this next year, and the next, and however long I get to be in this world, my Christmas wish/prayer is that people can know who I am by the things I keep in my heart. I'm gonna keep on pondering that.
Some of my very close friends are going through devastating illnesses this Christmas; some with a brand new diagnosis; some still fighting after a long battle. Some of my very close friends are facing this Christmas without a loved one who was taken too soon. Some of my very close friends are alone this Christmas. But even through the situations that seem so totally devastating and sad, there is still hope. And there can be peace - even through cancer and death and divorce and financial uncertainties. I've been through most of those scenarios, so I really do know what I'm talking about. The answer is not wrapped up in a pretty present under the tree. The answer is Jesus Christ.
My prayer for each of you (and I really do mean this) is that you know the peace that can only come from That Baby who was born a manger so very long ago.
Thank you for being in my life. Thank you for your encouragement for these words that I try to bring you every now and then. Thank you for your friendship, if only through the magic of Facebook. You are so very special to me!!
Merry Christmas!