Advent Devotional for December 2nd

Nativity window, Chartres Cathedral - France

"But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart." Luke 2:19 (NIV)

Mary had a lot to treasure and a lot to ponder! But every mother does, doesn’t she? Every new baby is accompanied by hopes, dreams, fears, assumptions and expectations. I like to imagine what Mary may have been thinking after she was visited by an angel, or after shepherds came to worship her newborn infant.

On the surface, there was nothing much to glorify. A stable, a bed of straw, the couple alone and probably frightened. But God was in that situation, as He is in every situation, and His light was flooding the humble venue. God was working in and through Mary and Joseph and the shepherds. I hope that what Mary was treasuring and pondering was the knowledge that God loved her and He was using her to do His work in our world. I hope that she knew she was both the vessel for the miracle and witness to it.

This Advent, I hope and pray that for all of us. I hope that each of us sees the miracles that our God is working underneath the mundane and the everyday. I pray that we look past the glitz and commercialism that can be so prominent in this season and remember the Reason that came to us as a baby.

Julie Ludington