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The Practice of Treasuring and Pondering More and more I appreciate the presence of Mary in the Christmas story. Despite being at ground zero of the whole cataclysmic event she displays an amazing sense of being present in the moment. Following what must have been a horrific birth in a barnyard come a band of sheep herders (not exactly who you would want dropping by the hospital for a visit) with a wild story about angels. Luke, in chapter 2, offers Mary's response:
19But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart.
What would it look like to treasure up something and ponder it in my heart? I don't think I do that much. I think it would look like stillness and feel like slowing and seem like freedom. The idea affords another great practice for the days of Advent-- Treasuring up pondering in the heart-- the inmost place of being.
It reminds me of another phrase-- for where your treasure is there will your heart be also.
I've been pondering this scrap sent me by Steve Moore recently. It is from William Law's "A Serious Call to a Devout and Holy Life," 1729:
Let every day, therefore, be a day of humility;
condescend to all the weaknesses adn infirmities of your fellow creatures,
cover their frailties, love their excellencies,
encourage their virtues, relieve their wants,
rejoice in their prosperities,
compassionate their distress,
receive their friendship,
overlook their unkindness,
forgive their malice,
be a servant of servants,
and condescend to the lowest offices
to the lowest of mankind.
Labels: passion year, theology
posted by John David Walt | at 11/27/2004 02:16:00 PM
Today...
1 Comments:
I have been thinking about that same phrase lately...Mary also treasured in her heart the time when Jesus was teaching the smart people in the Temple...I have wondered what she must have been thinking...on the heels of this announcement by an angel...then to a dirty cave of some sort with some animals and shepherds...then she sees this same child be a prodigy of sorts in the Temple...that would be one proud mama...but who really knows what was going on in her heart...and who knows how many of these thoughts flashed back into her mind and heart and she witnessed her son's Passion...after that whole angel thing and the teaching thing, she must have thought, "I thought there would be more than this. He was destined for so much more greatness. How could it come to this?"...I don't spend enough time treasuring and pondering Jesus in my heart...and even if I did, there is no guarantee that I would undertand Him...
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