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

Resolutions and Sky-High Plans – Part 1

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I tend to make high and lofty resolutions around New Years. I make grand promises to one and all about leaving the past behind; laziness, apathy, chocolate, wine, messiness, complaining, gossip and more – “Seeya later fellas!” I’ve plastered resolutions on social media, declared them to my friends, made bold statements of change and hope, wrote them down on pretty paper and stuck them to the back of the bathroom door. Only to be forced into a humiliated silence weeks later when my dreams and resolutions float off like the fantasies they started out as.

This year, I’m not setting resolutions. I’m not making bold statements, you won’t see anything written on my Facebook page or pictures on my Instagram… Nope. I’m done with that. We do such a great job of sabotaging ourselves with forced dreams and high and lofty goals. All the while our real selves that are capable of all the things we’ve been designed to do (uniquely designed to do) feel unheard, rushed by and unnoticed by pressures and crazes and what everyone-else-is-doing-that-seems-so-much-better-than-what-I’m-doing.

In his book, Luke wrote that Mary was visited by an angel, who told her that she would give birth to a revolutionary saviour; the God-man, who would show humanity a new way to live.

Stop and think about that.

What would you have done?

Mary had a choice to make about what she would do with this information. I would be tempted to tell people, especially those who think I’m good for nothing: “last night an angel visited me, and you know what he said?… Take that!!”

But even after Mary had given birth to Jesus, Luke says that she, “kept all these things to herself, holding them dear, deep within herself.”

Mary had an idea about what was ahead, she knew she carried destiny in her arms, that there was purpose and weight to her life. But she didn’t declare them, she didn’t sprout it off proudly at the local synagogue. She treasured them in her heart, shared them with a few she trusted. She let the words of the angel and the task set before her dwell in the most sacred part of her being, nurtured and protected, taking root and growing her into the seasons ahead. She didn’t get busy telling everyone how important she was and how she would change the world. She just went about and did the work of living; of birthing and raising a saviour.

Do I have plans? Goals? Dreams?

Yep.

But I’m going to treasure them in my heart and give them room to grow rather than peddle them on every social media corner that there is. This way rooted deeply in my heart and coming from my own unique self, my dreams will become the things that I do. Not out of pressure or obligation, but growth, health and conviction.

We all have a bit of Mary and Joseph within us – we all have a great light and purpose sewn into the fabric of our beings. And we, like them, have a choice to make about what to do with the things we’ve been given.

Don’t dream 2016 away with crazy resolutions and sky-high plans. Just humbly live every day doing what you love, doing what you can with what you have: dare to do. And you never know where you’ll find yourself come 2017.

Go to Part 2 – Mary and Her Heart Treasure »

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