Ponder These Things.
BY KATIE DrobiNA
Katie is an author, poet, and lover of words. A creative from a very young age, motherhood echoed the return of her passion for writing. Through her thoughtfully written words and the penning of her experiences, she hopes that readers feel and connect with the world around them again & are reinvigorated with their own passions.
It’s been eight years, but I still find myself, an utterly exhausted first-time mom, back in our tiny two-bedroom home pacing the small square footage with a very upset newborn. Night after night my sweet, inconsolable boy left me desperate to give him the comfort he needed. Outside my frost-kissed window, the Christmas season was in full swing— lights hanging from homes frozen in time from that early winter snowfall, trees aglow with color-filled branches, and the hustle and bustle of a world fixated on the holiday at hand.
As the cheerful sights and sounds filled the world around me, I was inside our cozy home longingly singing the verses of “Silent Night” over my child like a prayer of peace. Hoping each melody that escaped my lips would cause him to drift into harmonious slumber. As I continued singing, a verse I heard year after year, etching itself into my soul, scrolled through my head like a marquee in Times Square:
“But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart.” Luke 2:19, NIV
It reverberated through the caverns of my weary, sleep-deprived soul, and tender tears began to stream down my face. I looked down at my sweet boy who was finally restfully snuggled in against the warmth and comfort of his mother’s chest. I was in awe of the reality that, many years previous, a young, first-time mother also looked down and studied her sleeping infant nestled safely in her arms, right after experiencing one of the most miraculous moments known to history. I can only imagine Mary felt the same overwhelming emotions and profound love that mothers universally speak of.
She stilled herself, pondered, and allowed herself to be present in this very moment despite the understanding of things to come. My tears continued as I realized how human Mary was— both of us, broken by sin in a fallen world, both of us uncertain of what the future may hold.
As I continued rocking my sweet one, I wondered if Mary also knew the life she had the privilege of gently cradling was a life that had THE GREATEST purpose. THE life with a world-changing future. THE life that would impact her and all people more than she could ever truly grasp or be able to understand. THE life intentionally placed by the Creator for the ultimate saving of the world.
Friend, I don’t know if 2021 was a year of beautiful and hopeful things for you, or if it included pain, heartache, and grief. I do know that our pondering of the year behind us does not have to end with the overwhelmingly messy, hard, and (sometimes paradoxically) beautiful things of this world. Instead, we are invited to still ourselves—to slow down and breathe.
Take some moments to find treasure in the truth that the Savior of the world came to us in the form of a tiny, helpless baby so that we may be seen and held in our very own humanness. He came to invite you into His everlasting arms, and He holds you just as tenderly, lovingly, and sacrificially as a mother holds her precious baby. He calls you to lay down your weary hearts and heads—to hand over everything 2021 left—so that he can come and meet you in this place, and secure your future alongside Him. Will you let Him come?