Time for Gratitude - Mothering like Mary

Ok, so I would be completely remiss if I didn’t talk about our son Porter today since we are so close to Christmas which is also his 2nd birthday.

For any of you that read this blog regularly, you know that I had a home birth with him. Even though I haven’t written my entire birth story for you yet, someday I definitely will. Basically, he was born two years ago in the middle of a raging blizzard (like, seriously - thank the Lord we planned a homebirth because I don’t know if we would have been able to get to the hospital which is only about 10 blocks away…for real) on Christmas morning….while our daughter was eating her breakfast J. About an hour after he was born we were all in the living room opening Christmas gifts…it was fantastic.

Anyway, this Christmas I’ve really been thinking about being a mommy, how blessed I am in so many ways, and of course my children…particularly Porter since he shares his birthday with Jesus and, frankly, ‘tis the seasonJ.

One of the things that has really, truly been on my heart, though, is a Bible verse that I’ve heard and read probably 100 times…maybe you have too…”But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart” Luke 2:28 NIV. This is, of course, from the story of Jesus’ birth. Many things had transpired…Mary and Joseph traveled a long distance when she was very pregnant, once they reached their destination they were turned away from staying in a probably over-crowded and noisy inn (a blessing in and of itself, I would think), but because she was so pregnant (and possibly in labor at the time…who knows?) the innkeeper let them stay in the stable. After he was born, angels appeared to shepherds in fields not far away and with a great and magnificent chorus they told the shepherds what had just happened and where to find the baby Savior. After they had seen the baby, the shepherds went and told everyone what had happened and what the angel had told them. This is where it says Mary took all these things and pondered them.

What got me thinking about this is a few weeks ago my Pastor was reading this passage from the New Living Translation, and this verse jumped out at me ”but Mary kept all these things in her heart and thought about them often.” It’s amazing how hearing something in just a little different way can bring so much meaning to it. I had never really even considered Mary before…as with most Christian churches, the focus has always been on Jesus – makes sense, right?

I mean, for the first time in my life, I looked at Mary as a mother…just a regular excited, scared, joyous, protective young mommy …just like me! I mean, what mother doesn’t have memories of their births and surrounding events, thoughts, emotions, worries, joys, etc that she keeps in her heart and thinks about often? I’ve been really wondering what kind of things she thought. Was it how her labor went? Was it how Joseph supported her during labor and delivery? (I wonder how that went, by the way…in those times laboring women were usually surrounded by other women, weren’t they? They weren’t even married, so I wonder how comfortable he was being so close to her in such an intimate way?)  Was it the way it felt as her Savior’s head was crowning? Or perhaps it was the angel that told her of her immaculate conception, or of the visiting shepherds and what they told her they saw. Maybe it was the unbelievable responsibility that she must have felt…seriously – how would you feel having to raise the Son of God? I feel enough responsibility raising our own precious babes…tack on that one of them is the world’s Savior and I think I might feel a bit overwhelmed – ha! Maybe she was just in complete awe of how perfect (literally) her baby boy was and just drank it in.

Anyway, today and the past week or two I've been very reflective of all this. It gives me such a sense of comfort and camaraderie with Mary to know that she thought about things just like I do; that God made us all the same, no matter where or when we lived…we are all mothers.

So, this Christmas morning, I will most definitely be “pondering” some things in my heart…as I will on January 22^nd (Vienna’s birthday) and frankly probably every day for the rest of my life - let's be real. 

I’m so thankful and grateful to be a mommy who ponders.

**Please note that I am not comparing myself to the mother of Christ J. I am simply commenting on my revelation that she was just a regular mommy, too, and I'm sure we have thought at least some of the same things about our children. I wish many, many blessings to you all as you celebrate this joyous season!

By Evie DeWitt