“From the Hart” Devotional for April 11, 2024

“Making Space for Pondering”
by Julie Hart, Director of Connectional Ministries

15 When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, ‘Let us go now to Bethlehem and see this thing that has taken place, which the Lord has made known to us.’ 16 So they went with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the child lying in the manger. 17 When they saw this, they made known what had been told them about this child; 18 and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds told them. 19 But Mary treasured all these words and pondered them in her heart. 20 The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, as it had been told them.
Luke 2:15-20

I have been pondering a lot about pondering these days. Sometimes I can’t put what I am feeling into words. Sometimes I experience things that I cannot explain, or perhaps that I don’t want to explain to others. Sometimes I just have to sit with things before I can share them.

It seems to me that our culture has become kind of ponder adverse. So much of what is happening in our lives is shared in real time. We are posting, live-streaming, texting, and instant messaging as things are happening … often before we take the time to truly understand just what IS happening. Don’t get me wrong. I love to capture moments in my life. The over 100,000 photos on my phone are evidence of that. But sometimes I have to put my phone down and just take it in.

I recently went to the Sphere to see Postcard from Earth. If you haven’t been, you should! Describing it does not do it justice. To be completely surrounded by 18k resolution images from earth is breathtaking. I watched in awe as they showed places from around the world: mountains, gorges, prairies. I admired the incredible detail of creatures as large as elephants and as tiny as a praying mantis. Every one of my senses was involved from vibrating seats to wind blowing, and even scents wafting through the giant sphere.

I was sitting pretty far up in the sphere looking over the crowd of 18,000 people. When the movie began, many (most) of the people had their phones out taking pictures and videos of the movie. But little by little they put their phones away and just sat quietly and watched. What we were experiencing could not possibly be captured on a cell phone anyway. At the end of the hour, it was silent. After a moment, my daughter-in-law said to me that that was the first time in a long time that she could remember just being in the moment and not distracted by other thoughts or things happening around her. I realized that that was the same for me. My mind is usually racing. Even in the middle of a great show, I am making lists and thinking about things I have to do. But not during this movie. I was in awe of what I was seeing and every part of me was just trying to take it all in. I was fully present.

When we left the Sphere that evening, I continued to ponder. I thought about the beautiful planet that we live on and the ways in which we hurt it. I pondered about the wonders of the world and the miracles of God’s creation. I pondered about how awesome our God is and how God is in the details of something as great as the Grand Canyon and as small as the feathers on a bird. It was in the pondering that I became more aware of God’s blessings in my life. It was in that pondering that I was able to give thanks to God for creating a beautiful place filled with beautiful people and creatures to share life with.

In the story of Christ’s birth, we read about Mary’s pondering. That was a lot for a young girl to take in. So much so that she needed to quiet her soul to process it.
The next time we hear about Mary’s pondering is when they find Jesus (still a boy) in the temple after they had been searching for him for days. Once again, Mary turns to silence to ponder the purpose of her child, and the gift it was to be his mother. Mary pondered what was as well as what was yet to come. It takes space to do this kind of pondering.

Just one question and one prayer this week:
Question: Where are you making space to ponder what God is doing in your life?
Prayer: Dear God, please quiet my mind and still my body so that I may ponder over the blessings and lessons of this day. And let this pondering bring me closer to you this day and in the days to come. Amen.