Luke 2:19 “But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart.â€
I grew up in a foreign mission field and then in a part of the US far from our relatives. This, along with being from a large family, greatly influenced my attitudes toward the Christmas season. While we knew from infancy the true meaning of the holiday—the birth of our Savior—many traditions grew up around this precious treasure. In India, there was no commercialism; at first, in the States, there wasn’t money to indulge in it. Over the years, my family’s way of celebrating, from the first Sunday in Advent through Epiphany and into mid-January, became an unconscious part of me.
It wasn’t until I married at nearly 30 that I realized my husband had his own way of celebrating Christmas, and we needed to meld the two. So adjustment began. Most women have likely experienced similar adjustments as the traditions of two families put together result in new traditions.
But being married to a pastor adds a whole new dimension to the season, doesn’t it? Now your time and traditions are not your own, not for Christmas and not for the rest of the year. If you are older, was it with resistance that you compromised? If you are young, does it irk that your desires must often take a backseat to your husband’s ministry? No, for the most part, we make these changes willingly for the good of the Kingdom.
Much of what we do—the worship services, caroling, practicing the children’s service, providing cookies for shut-ins, Advent by Candlelight gatherings, even the symbolism in decorations and gift-giving—all keep us focused on the Reason for the season. They all help us keep our eyes fixed on Jesus. But what about the rest of the things that occupy our hearts and time? How caught up do we get in shopping, wrapping, baking, cooking, decorating, cards and letters, festive gatherings, drives through town to see the decorations, and on and on? How frenetic do we allow our lives to become?
Despite our best intentions—we know what really matters—it is easy to be influenced by the world around us, a world that does not know or care about Jesus, a world Satan uses to draw our attitudes, desires, and actions away from Jesus to the distractions that can so easily destroy the glory of the season. It takes conscious effort to sort our priorities and let go—with a clear conscience—of the things that are unimportant.
Go back to the short text above. Consider Mary’s situation and attitude. How incomprehensible life must have been to her! From the annunciation that she would bear the longed-for Savior, through the public shame of her pregnancy and the arduous journey to Bethlehem, to his actual birth in a barn—any “traditions†she had went right out the window! And what was her attitude? She “treasured†and “pondered†all these things in her heart. She had her priorities right. She had a childlike faith in the heavenly Father that led her to accept with complete trust his will in her life.
