Devotionals for the Heart: Treasures

Treasures of the Heart
A devotional by Mirachelle Canada

“When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child, and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them. But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart.” 

–Luke 2:17-19 (NIV)

Every December is the joyous season of giving and receiving. Both actions show our remembrance of and celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.

So significant was His birth that a bright star illuminated the stable where he was born, and an angelic host proclaimed His glorious arrival to some humble shepherds. The news was so great that they went in search of the child and, once they had seen him, they told everyone they could find.

When something amazing happens to a person the first thing most want to do is go tell someone about it. When your heart is bursting with such joy it is hard to hold the excitement inside. But sometimes a gift and our reaction to its true meaning are meant for God alone.

In Luke 2:19 after Mary, who had just given birth to Jesus then heard the glorious retelling of the shepherds’ angelic encounter that finally proclaimed what she already knew, there is the word but. Mary took a pause. Instead of joining in the excitement and perhaps invite all of Bethlehem to come and see her amazing child, “Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart.” According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, "ponder" means to think or consider especially quietly, soberly, and deeply. So why did Mary take such a deep appraisal of things?

Experience. She’d already had an angelic visit of her own and was miraculously with child though a virgin, making what she heard easy to believe, but it also weighed on her heart as a new mother who had proven faithful to wait and listen to God before acting on impulse.

How often, after we open all the gifts from under the Christmas tree, do we take pause to give thanks to God? Or even personally reflect on what it means that He sent His Son Jesus to be the Hope and Light of the world? 

Mary understood the significance of her actions as well as her reactions to the events of Jesus’s life. Few others in The Holy Bible are a better example of patience and endurance considering Mary found out early on about her and her son’s fate through a blessing in Luke 2:34-35 (NIV):

Then Simeon blessed them and said to Mary, his mother: “This child is destined to cause the falling and rising of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be spoken against, so that the thoughts of many hearts will be revealed. And a sword will pierce your own soul too.”

Whoa. Wait. What? “A sword will pierce through your own soul also so that thoughts from many hearts may be revealed.” What does that mean? 

Simeon’s blessing was referring to what Mary was already doing – waiting and storing up God’s treasures in her heart. All the thoughts she had pondered and not acted upon. Promises. Hopes. Dreams. For what mother could so gracefully endure knowing a sword would one day pierce her own soul because of what her son was meant to do?

Mary’s example of such endurance paved the way for us to learn to have patience and show humility in every season. As the mother of the proclaimed Messiah, she had every right to be proud and tell everyone about it, but she didn’t. Instead, her faithful act of storing up the treasures of God in her heart throughout Jesus’s life ultimately provided the opportunity for us to follow her example and store up our treasures there too. Like Mary, God promises to honor and reveal all the treasures we ponder in our hearts, as the book of Matthew 6:19-21 (NIV) reminds us:

“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”

Let’s pray: Dear God, We thank you for the gifts and blessings in every season and rejoice that as we ponder these things and store them up in our heart, You are also storing up treasures for us in Heaven. Give us the strength each day to take captive every thought and reaction and give us wisdom to know when to act or to ponder events in our hearts in accordance with your will. In Jesus’s Name I pray. Amen.

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Author Bio:

Mirachelle Canada is a writer, playwright, screenwriter, and theatre director/producer from Northern Virginia, where she teaches television production at her high school alma mater.

She earned her Master of Fine Arts in Script & Screenwriting from Regent University and is an alumnus of Act One: Hollywood Film & Television Writing Program.

Mirachelle is a member of American Christian Fiction Writers, American Fiction Writers Virginia Chapter, The Jerry Jenkins Writers Guild, and Your Novel Blueprint.

She is currently working on her first historical fiction novel set during WWII.

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Connect with Mirachelle:
Website: www.mirachellecanada.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mirachellecanada/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/miracan

Holiday devotional: Mary Pondered

Christmas is coming! Only three days away! Yet over 2,000 years ago, the first Christmas was celebrated on a starry, starry night in Bethlehem where the virgin Mary laid her sweet baby Jesus in a manger filled with hay. Yes, the Savior of the World, Jesus Christ was born through a virgin named Mary who was engaged to a man named Joseph. 

Mary and Joseph were poor in finances but rich in their relationship with God. They had faith more valuable than gold. It was their faith that kept them together when the angel of God told Mary that she would give birth to the Savior of the World and no this was not her fiance Joseph's biological child. However the process was pure and beyond our imagination. The Bible does not go into detail about how God sent His Son to Earth in the form of a baby carried in Mary's womb and delivered on that starry night in a stable filled with hay. But the Bible is clear on this, with God all things are possible (Philippians 4:13) and as the song by Brooklyn Tabernacle Choir on their Christmas CD says, it was the "birthday of a King!" 

What better reason to celebrate this Christmas season than to remember when this holiday was first created? And to hold on to the hope that no matter how crazy life in this world gets, God is still in control. If God can send His Son to be born, raised, minister to the sick and lost, then die and be resurrected to encourage His faithful followers and be humankind's High Priest and Mediator before God in Heaven (all of which completed the work of salvation) and then in turn He offers salvation to us as a free gift then of course God can keep you, bless you and deliver you from any trial and tribulation you may be facing!

But back to Mary as the Mother of Jesus. Mary was a very special woman. Despite her elevation of being the most favored woman of God and her willingness to be used by Him in His great plan to save the world, Mary was humble. She did not go around boasting and bragging that she was going to carry the Creator of all humankind in her womb and give birth to the long-awaited Messiah. And I'm sure she didn't try to one-up other mothers that she knew when talking about her child Jesus Christ. I mean seriously there's no greater title than your boy child being the Son of the Eternal King, right? Sure, doctor or lawyer, King of a Middle Eastern country or the President of the United States of America may be impressive titles but clearly God created all of those people who hold those titles yet He chose to collaborate with Mary to create His Son in human form. Yeah, Mary had plenty to boast about but she didn't. Mary did not boast. She stayed humble and faithful to God and she pondered this special mission God had given her in her heart (Luke 2:19).

Tonight, I'd like to share a different take on the Christmas story with you through the eyes of a mother. No, not Mary but Jaime Wright who is a woman with a love for words and Jesus Christ. Take it away Jaime...

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Mary Pondered
A Christmas devotional written by Jaime Wright

There’s a popular Christmas song, “Mary, Did You Know?” I’ve always wondered what she knew, when she held Jesus in her arms, his dark eyes squinting in new birth and his tiny voice straining to make sure the world He had arrived. Did she know? All Scripture tells us is that she pondered it all in her heart.

I never understood that. Until Christmas 2009. My daughter was early. Too early. Although in many experiences, three weeks isn’t that unusual. In my daughter’s, she just wasn’t ready. To be born. To breathe. To cry.

How can a mother forget the croaking whimpers of a newborn with not enough air? The croons of Daddy coaxing, “breathe, Baby Girl, breathe”. Labor. Pains. Vomiting. Exhaustion. And now … impending death.

Mary looked at her boy. Newborn. His velvety hair, olive skin, wrinkled and innocent. A purity he would never lose. And eyes that were sharp, knowing. Mary pondered … impending death.

The room was a bustle of activity. My daughter was whisked away and then brought back to my room to be held on my chest for thirty seconds so she could bond with her mother’s scent. Then they wheeled her away to an ambulance. And I screamed.

The night was filled with the screams of mothers who had their babies stricken by the heinous King Herod. His jealous slaughter heralded the coming of the Messiah, sheltered and whisked away by angel’s warning. The violence. The murder. The blood. Always blood. And Mary pondered …

I limped into the NICU. The incubator was warm, soft light glowed. Her Daddy had been there four hours before I arrived. The nurse told me he had not moved. And in the warm glow, I saw it. My daughter’s finger, squeezing her Daddy’s finger, white-knuckled grip with no intention to let go. Daddy was her salvation.

And Mary squeezed His finger, with no intention of letting go. But she would have to let go. He was her Abba, her daddy, her Father. For He was her Savior. It was a dichotomy.

And Mary pondered … A Savior. A King. Her Son. Her baby would save the world.

Of course she didn’t know. She didn’t want to know. But she had this moment. A mother’s arms, full, in love, and a deep breath that her son, was God’s son. A gift she had been given that she would never regret. Jesus.

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Author bio:

Professional coffee drinker Jaime Wright resides in the hills of Wisconsin writing spirited and gritty turn-of-the-century romance stained with suspense. Her day job finds her a Director of Associate Sales, Development & Relations. She’s wife to a rock climbing, bow-hunting youth pastor, mom to a coffee-drinking little girl and a Sippy cup-drinking baby boy, and completes her persona by being an admitted Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and Blogspot junkie.

Jaime is a member of ACFW, enjoys mentorship from a best-selling author, and has the best critique partners EVER! (Yes, that's an exclamation point.) She was a semifinalist in ACFW’s 2013 Genesis contest and that alone encouraged excessive celebration over extra espresso with hazelnut syrup.

In her "down time", Jaime reads voraciously, socializes incessantly, drinks coffee addictively, and overuses "-ly" words excessively.

Social media links: 

http://www.jaimewrightbooks.com

http://coffeecupsandcamisoles.blogspot.com

http://www.facebook.com/jaimewrightbooks

Twitter: @Jaime_wright

Pinterest: jaimewright01