Mary was treasuring up all these things in her heart and meditating on them. Luke 2:19 (HCSB)
Mary and Her Heart Treasure – Part 2
Go to PART 1
When I was twelve, my Church held a prayer meeting called a “presbytery.” At this night, a couple of Ministers came and prayed and prophesied over us (sounds weird? It kinda was, but it was good too. I think… It was a long time ago). One of the ministers was praying/prophesying over me and told me about Mary and how she pondered things God told her in her heart and said that I should do the same.
Luke 2:19 “Mary was treasuring up all these things in her heart and meditating on them.”
Those few lines said to me by a minister (whose name I have forgotten during a weird and crazy night of prayer) have stuck with me for twenty-one years.
When I’ve been given a glimpse of the future or have had an idea conceived in my spirit or a correction that has redirected my path, if I brag about it, tell heaps of people, sprout off about it too early, it almost always gets messy and complicated. But the times where I’ve let the idea and correction sit with me, whisper to me some about where we might go and what we might do; when I’ve treasured that thought, pondered the conviction, mulled it over, shared it perhaps with my husband or a close friend; they have a much better chance of surviving the real world.
Mary wasn’t just given an incredible promise and an important task… She was going to give birth to a revolutionary in an extremely volatile political and social climate in the most scandalous of ways. There were preparations to make, conversations to have; she would have to trust and have faith and be bold and step out. This was no fairytale. Mary stood to lose everything due to her unwed pregnancy. Would she risk it all to be who she was created to be? To carry out her holy task?
I find that when I spend too many words making resolutions and declaring my next big achievement, they usually remain just words. In all the noise and clamour, the ‘will to do' rarely takes hold.
But when I let an idea or a dream sink itself down into my spirit, and hide it in there, giving it space to grow, then maybe sharing it with a few friends who will speak wisdom and life to it, and help me on my way; when I breathe in and out through prayer and meditation over it, conversing with the divine – then I know that this little seed, this tiny thought or idea or goal or plan, will grow.
2016 could be the most incredible year of your life. It also could end up being one of the most challenging – we can’t predict what the coming days hold for us. BUT we can prepare our hearts, open our eyes, live with grace and embrace each day with passion and determination. To live from such a place takes digging deep, it's not created with flowery words and lists of resolutions. Mary had to dig deep within herself to carry out the task set before her; she dared to birth into the world what had been divinely created within her. She needed to be resolute (not just make resolutions…). The same challenge is set before us.
Instead of making grand promises and highly decorated lists for all to see at the onset of 2016, take some time to think about what it is that God has conceived in your heart to do… what does he want you to bring into the world this year? Take a page out of Mary’s book and treasure those thoughts, draw them deep within yourself and hold them dear. Allow the spirit to breathe upon them and bring them to growth. For now, keep them sacred, make your plans with a gracious fluidity, solid but movable, flexible. Your progress and journey will show in due time and meanwhile, the work of living and loving and moving forward will take you places you can’t even imagine.
Go to Part 3 – Future You »
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