Pondering Mary

But Mary treasured up all these things (the worship of Jesus), 

pondering them in her heart 

Luke 2:19

And He went down with them, and came to Nazareth; 

and He continued in subjection to them; 

and His mother treasured all these things in her heart. 

Luke 2:51

Mary was chosen by God to contribute half of the DNA necessary for the Son of God to walk on this earth, fully God and fully man, to carry the embryo, the fetus, the baby Jesus, to give birth to the Savior of the world, to mother, parent, care for the child Christ. Wow!

Yet, the Bible says she, like, dare I say, all mothers, stored up in her heart the comments others made about her boy, treasures, words to roll over and over in her mind. Really, who among us doesn't keep, almost more than any other words, those spoken about our children. And isn't the call to motherhood universal. The woman chosen to bear the Son of God who so often is depicted with a glowing halo of holiness about her did the same things we do. Found words of goodness and treasured them, pondering them in her heart. Creating dreams for her son.

Granted, her dreams included dreams of royalty. Dreams of freedom from Roman oppression. You see, in her time, many people had forgotten the hard prophesies of the coming Messiah--the abuse, the death, the pain--and were counting on the reign of a king freeing their country from the Romans. But she dreamed for her child.

I wonder when they took Jesus to be consecrated at the temple if she really heard the words of Simeon, after claiming the Salvation that Jesus is, he turned to her,

Behold, this Child is appointed for the fall and rise of many in Israel, 

and for a sign to be opposed

--and a sword will pierce even your own soul--

to the end that thoughts from many hearts may be revealed. 

Luke 2:34-35

I doubt that there is a mother in the world who would desire for harm, for pain, for deep suffering to enter into the lives of her children. (Yes, even the really bad ones.) Yet it will come. Our dreams, those treasured words will one day have the taste of tears, the quality of ash, as our children walk this world. For if even the mother of the Savior tasted dashed dreams, surely we as mamas to ordinary, man-DNA-plus-woman-DNA creatures will too.

And so, in this season of Luke 2, I wonder if Simeon's words and the fullness of Mary's experience could have words for us.

she pondered these things

treasuring them in her heart

these children, fully human, are created for a purpose

these children in fulfilling their purpose (or in the time of running from it) will experience pain

we as their mothers will be pierced with the pain they are going through

God desires for the suffering of children and their mothers to work redemption in the lives of others.

And so in the midst of little girl dreams and little boy aspirations and the tears that accompany disappointment, I declare hope.

I think, Mary who watched the Messiah, a child she knew was conceived supernaturally, she heard and saw angels foretelling, she heard stories of stars and angels proclaiming His absolute royalty, hang on a Roman cross, be pierced by Roman spear, be declared dead by men experienced in the ugly art of execution would talk of the way God works redemption out of the piercing pain of dead dreams.

For Mary was also able to see and hug the resurrected Lord. (OK, I know there is nowhere written that she hugged Him, but, really do you think He wouldn't have allowed His mother to weep great tears of relief and joy and to hug Him really tight and really long?)

His life, His death, His resurrection give hope for all us mamas that in Him the dried tears, ashes of dreams, are part of a grand plan for redemption for us, for our babies, and for the world.