Luke recorded, in Luke 2:19, "but Mary kept all these things in her heart and thought of them often." Given Mary's situation, it must have been difficult for her to keep the right things in her heart. The Scriptures don't tell us, but history would indicate that Mary was only a teenager when she gave birth to Jesus. She didn't choose to go through this. She was chosen. Joseph almost left her when he heard her story. She was sent away to stay with a cousin during her pregnancy.

And then when it came time for the birth, she wasn't even at home and around family. Instead, she gave birth in a barn, and the only one she knew was Joseph. No mother. No sisters or aunts. No friends. She did the best she could do and wrapped her new born baby in pieces of torn cloth to protect him from the scratches of the hay and the bugs that always occupied the feeding trough she laid him in, as they had no decent crib. Within hours, a group of shepherds, smelling of sheep and the hygiene of the lowly, suddenly showed up. Total strangers. Uninvited. Arriving less than a few hours from the act of giving birth to a child.

No, there was nothing about this situation to give the heart much to hold on to. And yet ... ... ... Mary was able to see past all of this to the blessedness of what was happening, and she held on to the angel's message, the love of her husband, to the face of her child, to the worship of strangers and kept THESE things in her heart, and she thought of them often. There was nothing in her circumstances, but there was something deeper.

I wonder about our hearts during this Holy Season. Are we letting our circumstances, the shopping, decorating, preparing for festivals, the pace of finishing up the year, the lack of money, maybe the lack of friends or family, and so many other things push out the deeper things that are present and much more meaningful? Proverbs 4:23 says, "Guard your heart above all else, for it determines the course of your life." How's your heart this Holy Season? What are you pondering on? What are you choosing to keep there? I hope this Season, you will go deeper, go past the circumstances that surround Christmas and reconnect with the Truth of Christmas. Guard your heart ... it determines the course of everything else.

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