Treasuring in Our Hearts
Personally, I’m not great at waiting. I usually distract myself if I have to wait for long periods of time. Waiting feels like staring at a pot full of water, waiting for that water to boil while my young children run around the kitchen asking when dinner will be ready. The common idiom of “a watched pot never boils,” rings true around five o’clock in the afternoon at my house. When the pre-dinner wiggles hit, I use distraction to buy time. We put away the large puzzles commonly covering the floor and we take turns guarding the snack cabinet so that my two-year-old doesn’t rifle through it. The problem is that while I’m too busy distracting, and being distracted myself, I forget about the pot and the water until I hear the sizzle of quickly evaporating water on the hot stove from the (finally) boiling water that spilled over.
It’s difficult to explain the concept of waiting to young children who are still learning how to read a clock and a calendar. Waiting is even more difficult in the month of December, as the anticipation of Christmas grows each day. December is full of Christmas themed school work, possible snow days, paper decorations, and waiting for presents. This month the question of “When is dinner?” turns into, “When is Christmas?” and “Is it today?!” We even have a wooden Christmas tree with magnetic ornaments as a countdown to help them visualize how many days are left until Christmas. But the countdown lasted for a couple of days until they thought it was more fun to just put all the magnets on at once. Or hide the magnets. Both things happened this year.
In this month of waiting, I was tempted to use my usual distracting techniques. School routines and Christmas themed activities distracted them slightly, but the questions prevailed all day long. Then I decided to lean into the waiting instead.
We read and spoke about Jesus’ birth over and over. Again and again. When I recount the story with my children, I often find something in the text I hadn’t thought of much before. We spoke about how Mary didn’t have a camera to take pictures or videos. There are no photographs of Jesus’ birth or the shepherds’ visit to the manger. Yet she wanted to remember. She thought about the moments often, and maybe spoke about it frequently with Joseph to better understand. In Luke 2:19 it says, “But Mary treasured up all these things, pondering them in her heart.” Mary reflected on what she experienced carefully and intentionally. Again in Luke 2:51 when Jesus is older and, unbeknownst to his parents, stays at the temple after his family’s visit for Passover it says, “…And his mother treasured up all these things in her heart.”
Perhaps while she waited for Jesus’ purpose in life to be revealed she thought back to the events before and after his birth to try to unravel the mystery. Maybe as Mary waited to see how Jesus would exactly redeem His people she thought of the angels, the shepherds, and the wise men.
This year Mary was a needed reminder to not distract myself or my family from the waiting and the anticipation of counting down the days until Christmas. My prayer this season is to follow in Mary’s example: in the waiting reflect on what God has already accomplished and hope for what He is yet to do.