Dec. 27, 2012

Mary committed these things to memory and considered them carefully.

– Luke 2:19

Last weekend while at my parents, I ran across this book my Mom is filling out for my niece. It’s a book where she records some of her favorite memories. Memories about her childhood, her parents, her siblings, her work, how she met my Dad, how life has changed during her lifetime. I think it is important and special that my Mom finish filling in this little book.

I loved hearing stories and memories from my Grandmother. Near her 100^th birthday, I took her to a long lunch and ask her question after question about her life. This developed in a short biography available at her 100^th birthday. I still read these stories and memories and recall my Grandmother telling me them.

When Rick shares about raising his family as a single parent, he often says that while they often didn’t have a lot, he wanted his kids to have great memories from their years growing up. I believe he accomplished this, based on the stories the kids share when we are together.

My, oh my, the memories Mary had from that first Christmas Eve night. I can only imagine her wanting to etch the images and details, the sights and smells, the emotions and feeling in her heart. This would allow her to remember all of these when at a later date, someone asked her what it was like to give birth to the Messiah.

Throughout Luke’s gospel, there is significant symbolism. The mere fact that so much time and attention is given to Mary’s side of this story is huge, considering women basically were not allowed voices in Hebrew culture. When Luke’s gospel was written, it seems Mary or someone very close to her shared all the details of this story. Thanks be to God someone had a good memory so these details can be shared with us, 2,000 years later.

There are moments in our lives when we do not want to ever forget the important details of the day. How we appreciate and value the details of the Christmas story and how Mary shared these with someone so we can all benefit from this story. May we commit to memory and treasure significant times of our spiritual journeys.  Encourage us to treasure memories more than possessions. Amen.

Blessings –

Dianne