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- Apr 25, 2006
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30 December 2007
Word on the Web
Luke 2: 17-20
When they had seen him, they told what the angels had said about this child. Everyone was amazed at what the shepherds said to them. But Mary treasured these things and continued to think about them. Then the shepherds went back to their sheep, praising God and thanking him for everything they had seen and heard. It had been just as the angel had told them.
"But Mary treasured these things and pondered them in her heart." This is one of my favourite phrases in the whole Bible. Firstly it is a wonderful part of motherhood, realising these moments with your child are precious and are to be treasured, storing them up inside you as a photo album of unique experiences to ponder and enjoy again and again throughout your life.
And secondly, here is the young Jewish girl Mary, trying to make sense of what is happening to her. Her life has been a rollercoaster ride for the last nine months and in this phrase there is a sense of her not quite making sense of it all but just trying to take in everything that is happening, treasuring it all up and pondering it over the rest of her life. "Yea, thou art now Thy Maker's maker, and thy Father's mother, Thou hast light in dark, and shutt'st in little room Immensity, cloister'd in thy dear womb." (John Donne)
Thirdly there is a wonderful sense of being fully alive to the moment - eyes wide open, taking in everything that is happening, storing it up, delighting in it. John Lennon once said, "Life is what happens when you're busy making other plans." And we so often live our lives either waiting for life to start or living in a rose-tinted nostalgia of how things used to be. Mary's example tells me to be have my eyes wide open to the glory around me today, to treasure it and ponder it in my heart.
Open the eyes of our heart O Lord that we might see the glory that surrounds us everyday. Help us make peace with our past and our futures so that we can be fully alive to the present. May we treasure our walk with you and ponder it in our hearts. Amen.
Written by Sam Chaplin
Word on the Web
Luke 2: 17-20
When they had seen him, they told what the angels had said about this child. Everyone was amazed at what the shepherds said to them. But Mary treasured these things and continued to think about them. Then the shepherds went back to their sheep, praising God and thanking him for everything they had seen and heard. It had been just as the angel had told them.
"But Mary treasured these things and pondered them in her heart." This is one of my favourite phrases in the whole Bible. Firstly it is a wonderful part of motherhood, realising these moments with your child are precious and are to be treasured, storing them up inside you as a photo album of unique experiences to ponder and enjoy again and again throughout your life.
And secondly, here is the young Jewish girl Mary, trying to make sense of what is happening to her. Her life has been a rollercoaster ride for the last nine months and in this phrase there is a sense of her not quite making sense of it all but just trying to take in everything that is happening, treasuring it all up and pondering it over the rest of her life. "Yea, thou art now Thy Maker's maker, and thy Father's mother, Thou hast light in dark, and shutt'st in little room Immensity, cloister'd in thy dear womb." (John Donne)
Thirdly there is a wonderful sense of being fully alive to the moment - eyes wide open, taking in everything that is happening, storing it up, delighting in it. John Lennon once said, "Life is what happens when you're busy making other plans." And we so often live our lives either waiting for life to start or living in a rose-tinted nostalgia of how things used to be. Mary's example tells me to be have my eyes wide open to the glory around me today, to treasure it and ponder it in my heart.
Open the eyes of our heart O Lord that we might see the glory that surrounds us everyday. Help us make peace with our past and our futures so that we can be fully alive to the present. May we treasure our walk with you and ponder it in our hearts. Amen.
Written by Sam Chaplin
