A Prayer about Treasuring and Pondering
So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger. When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child, and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them. But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart. (Luke 2:16–19 NIV)
Gracious Jesus, I’m very drawn to Mary’s response early in her journey of nursing you and knowing you. Even as I write these words, I realize what a holy mystery the incarnation was. You, the very God who created all things, who sustains all things, and who is making all things new—you drew nourishment from a young maiden’s breast.
And Mary “treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart.” “Hurrying off” like a shepherd to tell others about you has always been easier for me than sitting still and letting you tell me about yourself.
It’s always been easier for me to talk than to listen, to stay busy than to relax, to be “productive” than to be meditative. I confess this as sin, Jesus. This isn’t okay. It can be explained but not justified. For knowing about you is not the same thing as knowing you. An informed mind is not the same thing as an en flamed heart.
To know you is eternal life, and I do want to know you, Jesus, so much better than I already do. I want to treasure you in my heart and ponder who you are. I want to contemplate everything you’ve already accomplished through your life, death, and resurrection; everything you’re presently doing as the King of Kings and Lord of Lords; and everything you will be in the new heaven and new earth as the bridegroom of your beloved bride. There’s so much to treasure and so much to ponder.
It’s not as though I’m a stranger to treasuring and pondering, for I treasure and ponder a lot of things, Jesus — things, however, that lead to a bankrupt spirit and an impoverished heart. May the gospel slow me, settle me, and center me, that I might say with the psalmist, “Whom have I in heaven but you? And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you. My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.” (Ps. 73:25–26)
I pray in your peerless name.
Amen.