All of my kids will be home for Christmas!

It almost didn’t happen.  Janay just got a new (awesome!) job and doesn’t get much time off for Christmas.  We were afraid that we would have to cancel her trip.  She had a great attitude about it.  I, on the other hand, did not.  My sad little heart couldn’t imagine her spending Christmas alone and leaving an empty spot at the Jarvis table. Not okay.

So this morning I got on the phone and spent too much time talking to a man with an incredibly thick accent, begging him to exchange the ticket so that we could have our girl home for 36 hours.  It cost me more to change the ticket than the original ticket’s price (’tis the season!) but now we will all be together for Christmas.  And my mama heart will sing!

It got me to thinking about a certain mama’s heart on that first Christmas.  Mary.  Her first motherhood experience.

Luke 2:19 says, “But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart. ”  She was observing and experiencing everything that was going on around her because of her Son’s birth.  People were worshipping this Baby.  News was traveling fast about His arrival.  Scholars came from distant countries to find Him.  And a king was so threatened by this Child that he wanted Him dead.

So much information to take in, when all she probably wanted to do was adore her Baby. Her mama heart must have longed to have Him to herself for a little while with less attention and commotion.  But she TREASURED these things and PONDERED or thoughtfully considered these things, these miraculous happenings, in her heart.  She loved her Baby dearly, and she was also beginning to understand that her Son was born not just to her but to all of us.  Her Boy would one day save the world!

There’s another verse that says, “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” (Matthew 6:21)  Isn’t that interesting?  Mary was the illustration of this in action.  What she treasured – her Son, God Himself, incarnate – was what she pondered in her heart.  What she most valued was what she most thought about.

Where are my most constant thoughts?  That will be a telltale sign about where my heart is.  What I treasure I will think about.  What I think about, what I ponder, is what has captured my heart.

Like Mary, is Jesus the focus of my heart’s attention? Does who He is and what He came to do and who He came to reach consume my thoughts and monopolize my ponderings?  Oh, I do hope so….

And did I mention that all my kids will be home for Christmas? 🙂