Ponder. SHOUT!

"Mary kept all these things to herself, holding them dear, deep within herself. The sheepherders returned and let loose, glorifying and praising God for everything they had heard and seen. It turned out exactly the way they’d been told!"

Luke 2:19 - 20

Again, when Jesus, aged 12, was 'lost' in the temple, Mary 'treasured all these things in her heart'. She kept them to herself until, as an old lady, she confided them to Luke, remembering all things about her dear son.

She would not have forgotten a single detail.
Barnes' notes say:
"A "mother" forgets none of those things which occur respecting her children. Everything they do or suffer - everything that is said of them, is treasured up in her mind; and often she thinks of those things, and anxiously seeks what they may indicate respecting the future character and welfare of her child.

Pondered - Weighed. This is the original meaning of the word "weighed." She kept them; she revolved them; she "weighed" them in her mind, giving to each circumstance its just importance, and anxiously seeking what it might indicate respecting her child.

In her heart - In her mind. She "thought" of these things often and anxiously."
The shepherds, on the other hand, did not forget either. They could NOT keep this amazing event to themselves, and told everyone they could, giving God the glory and the praise. 

Who believed them? Would I? Could I? Or would cold reason, dismissal of 'superstition', disbelief, ignorance, have come creeping in?

God, give me eyes to see You at work in our world
a heart to believe
and a willing will to obey.

Disbelief.

"And now you will be silent and not able to speak until the day this happens, because you did not believe my words, which will come true at their appointed time.”

Meanwhile, the people were waiting for Zechariah and wondering why he stayed so long in the temple.  When he came out, he could not speak to them. They realized he had seen a vision in the temple, for he kept making signs to them but remained unable to speak.

When his time of service was completed, he returned home.  After this his wife Elizabeth became pregnant and for five months remained in seclusion.  

“The Lord has done this for me,” she said. “In these days he has shown his favor and taken away my disgrace among the people.”

Luke 1:20 - 25

A warning for our disbelief. 

How often do I not dare to believe that God really, really loves me enough to give me my deepest heart's desire? It may not be now - the timing is his - but He knows what is best.

This best, a son for Zacharias and Elizabeth, was long in coming.

Did they see him come to manhood?

Surely, old as they were, they would be spared the unjust tragedy of his death?

Elizabeth was unaware of his great destiny: “He’ll drink neither wine nor beer. He’ll be filled with the Holy Spirit from the moment he leaves his mother’s womb. He will turn many sons and daughters of Israel back to their God. He will herald God’s arrival in the style and strength of Elijah, soften the hearts of parents to children, and kindle devout understanding among hardened skeptics—he’ll get the people ready for God.” 

Only Zachariah.

He returned home with heaven-sent knowledge which he could not share. 

(I wonder -  had they still been making love together, old as they were? Zachariah surely lay with Elizabeth on his return from Jerusalem - was she surprised?)

He could only watch in awe as Elizabeth's stomach slowly swelled

as the child grew in her.

Unbelievable.

Yet nothing is impossible - WITH GOD.

Dare to believe.

Accept His love.

Obey His word.

Nothing.is.impossible. WITH GOD.

Luke 1: 36 - 38 (The angel continued:) "Furthermore, six months ago your Cousin Elizabeth—‘the barren one,’ they called her—became pregnant in her old age!  For every promise from God shall surely come true.”

Mary said, “I am the Lord’s servant, and I am willing to do whatever he wants. May everything you said come true.” And then the angel disappeared."

Every promise shall come true.

Yet, we, unlike Mary, doubt.

Sarah, Abraham's wife, laughed in disbelief.

Perhaps, we do not laugh

but hidden in our hearts

we ponder: "Can this really be?

Do I deserve it? Surely, this is

'too good to be true'."

Yet Mary did not, Unlike Zechariah

who also had angelic visitation,

and suffered for his incredulity, 

Mary believed.

Mary was willing.

Mary accepted.

Mary desired that God's word WOULD STAND.

For her, no scepticism, doubt, cynicism, suspicion, distrust, mistrust, wariness, chariness...

JUST FAITH.

Believe

2 Peter 1:19 - 21

Above all, ...understand that no prophecy of Scripture came about by the prophet’s own interpretation of things. For prophecy never had its origin in the human will, but prophets, though human, spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.

So I believe what is written in the Bible about God.
I believe with the understanding that the Holy Spirit gives to the words.
I believe as simply and as completely as I can...

This I know...

I know there is more to life than the eating and drinking, the everyday living.

More than the friends and the family and the ‘whatever I fancy’.

More.

I know there is hunger for deeper reflection and ultimate connection.

For knowing and purpose and certain direction.

Soul.

I know that religion just means belief in something/Someone superhuman:

too big for me to understand, imagine or even remotely adequately explain.

Belief.

I know Jesus the man was a definite person who lived and died.

Roman history tells us so: religion does not mean imagination.

Jesus is real.

I believe Jesus when he said (and still says) there is more to come, better to come.

I believe him when he tells me how to live for a better life, a happier life.

Contentment.

So I try to live according to his words in the Book. I so often, often, fail to do so well.

Yet they are still the benchmark, the yardarm, the starting and the ending point.

The Word in The Words.

Brian Maclaren on the subject of children

I was given the book Why Did Jesus, Moses, the Buddha and Mohammed Cross the Road? by Brian Maclaren for Christmas.  Thought provoking reading.  So far, the main gem I have come away with - which makes SO much sense on many levels, not just spiritual - is that we gain our sense of identity in part by our reaction to and rejection of the 'other'.  It chimes with a psychology thesis I wrote  at College many many years ago.  So I was fascinated to read an interview with him in Children's Work magazine here.
 

Advent thoughts - HOPE

This first week of the Good Morning Girls Advent study is full of HOPE. Stories of people looking to the future, living in hope and expectation, living by faith.

Yet Mary SEES: Luke 1:26 – 38 is the story of how Mary conceives.
“And Mary said,
Yes, I see it all now: I’m the Lord’s maid, ready to serve.
Let it be with me just as you say.”

And Mary SAID. She SAID. She ACCEPTED, AGREED, WHISPERED, BELIEVED, UNDERSTOOD.
Would I?

The Word is LIGHT; LIGHT TO LIVE BY: John 1-1-4
“The Word was first, the Word present to God, God present to the Word.
The Word was God, in readiness for God from day one.
Everything was created through him; nothing—not one thing!— came into being without him.
What came into existence was Life, and the Life was Light to live by.
The Life-Light blazed out of the darkness; the darkness couldn’t put it out.”

Yet some were BLINDED: John 1:9 – 12 "but his own did not receive him" caught my eye - having conversations with people who just don't 'get' Jesus. They are HIS but do not RECEIVE him - The Message "He came to his own people, but they didn’t want him". Praying that this Advent will be different!

Amazing to think that Jesus can be our ETERNAL LIGHT. I woke up at 1am a couple of nights ago and was astonished to see the garden looking so clear in the moonlight - such a contrast to the pitchblack darkness we often see. Imagine being able to see clearly all the time, with no darkness at all: a faint image of what it is like with Jesus, both now in our lives and then when he returns. Praying we will see things that happen clearly in HIS light, not stumbling around in the darkness by ourselves.
Isaiah 60:18-20 says: “God will be your eternal light, your God will bathe you in splendour. Your sun will never go down, your moon will never fade. I will be your eternal light. Your days of grieving are over.”

Jeremiah HOPES (33:14 - 15 “The time is coming...” true for the here and now, the before and then, the soon and later... for the God Who Is, The God Who Was, and The God About to Arrive...

Romans 15: 12-13 in the Message ' And Isaiah's word*: there's the root of our ancestor Jesse, breaking through the earth and growing tree tall, tall enough for everyone everywhere to see and take hope! Oh! May the God of green hope fill you up with joy, fill you up with peace, so that your believing lives, filled with the life-giving energy of the Holy Spirit, will brim over with HOPE!' (*Isaiah 11:10)

The readings for the four weeks are here. The study guide that goes with it finishes the first week with:
Hope came into our world!
Hope...
that God can still use this broken life and make something beautiful.
Hope…
that we don't have to be perfect to be loved by Him.
Hope...
that the best is yet to come.

Standing on the Rock

From  Renee Ann Smith's Easter thought...