Treasuring...

01.02.13

Luke 2.51 51 Then he went down to Nazareth with them and was obedient to them. But his mother treasured all these things in her heart. NASB

What do you like to think about? What fond and pleasant memories do you have? We have a grandbaby on the way and don’t think for a minute that I don’t treasure that in my heart. I’m of the grand-parenting age and am totally excited about the birth of this child. I think about what we’ll do together. I think about buying him (we know from modern science, medicine, and technology that he is a he) pieces of ABS and PVC pipe and fittings to play with – he may as well start young. I treasure these things in my heart.

Mary, the mother of Jesus treasured thoughts about Jesus in her heart. She’d had an angelic visitation – wow! She’d been told that she was carrying the Son of God in pregnancy. She was told she’d give birth to the Savior of the world. She was frustrated at His being missing at Jerusalem that one time…but later smiled and wondered when she saw the fuss the priests were making over Him. Mary treasured her Firstborn and loved Him though she didn’t fully understand what it was all about.

I think I am like a ping pong ball in a tornado; my thoughts are all over the place. As soon as one hits my mind, I’m off to the next. But I treasure things in my thoughts. I’m learning to treasure what God thinks of me…and all of my fumblings and failings. God treasures me in His heart and that thought is worth treasuring in my own.

I have lived so many years trying to impress others with what I know and what I can do and I am getting to the place where I realize it just doesn’t matter what they think – I can’t control it anyway. I can’t impress them by trying and I need to just be me: loved by God and treasured in His heart.

Mary was free in her thinking to think about anything she wished but she thought about her God. She thought about her Boy; and she thought over and over about the mystery and majesty of His coming to be – through her. I think Mary treasured the thought that God treasured her. That’s a thought worth treasuring. It is a freeing thought and one worth the place of preeminence in our hearts.

In 2013, I have decided that despite the fumblings and failings of our nation, our leaders, and our economy, I am not going to lose sight of the things worth treasuring in my heart. I’m not going to let the news – good or bad – steal my joy and my treasure. My treasure is worth too much and I can’t control the news…

Jesus said, where your treasure is, there is your heart. I think Mary was on to something big because she acknowledged Who was in control of things she maybe didn’t fully understand. That’s good medicine for me as well. Treasuring…