So they went with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the child lying in the manger. When they saw this, they made known what had been told them about this child; and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds told them. But Mary treasured all these words and pondered them in her heart.
Luke 2:16 – 19
What was Mary pondering in her heart so intensely? I like to think she was meditating on the astonishing, unexpected, and profound presence of love in her small humble life. Perhaps like many of us, she was accustomed to seeing the good stuff on the outside of herself—out there in other “more important” people. I’m guessing it took her whole lifetime to completely grasp that love really did live within her. Observing her amazing son’s life, who had, after all, come through her, Mary eventually got it. Her soul was moved and her life opened out. She grew into the wise woman that she had been all along.
Nothing in life works well until we open to the presence of love. It is the spiritual glue that holds the universe in place. When we ignore love or try to block it out or hoard it in, we disrupt our connections. We break the strands and end up trying to weave a beautiful tapestry using broken bits of thread. It can’t happen. Painful though it may be, we begin to see the deepest truth, the one that Mary grasped. It’s this—love is the one absolute necessity. We cannot live without it. When we allow the repair of love’s fibers, our soul is moved and our life opens out. Now we are weaving with long threads, creating harmonious beauty.
In this Advent week ponder the astonishing, unexpected, and profound presence of love in your small humble life. Like Mary, you’ll find that your life isn’t so small after all. It is indeed the very birthplace of love.
In the Love and Light of the Christ,
Rev. Anna
