Ponderings

“Greetings, you who are highly favored!  The Lord is with you…You will be with child…The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you” Luke 1:28-35.

I love this time of year when we get to crawl into the mind and heart of the mother of Jesus.  It’s easy to forget she was a child herself, scholars estimating her age to be 13 or 14.  I wonder if the reason she was chosen had anything to do with her young age.  The heart of a 14 year old girl is full of dreams and wonder.  The young heart has yet to have heartbreak and above all else believes in love.  The young heart is emotionally ripe for amazing experiences.  It is a heart that has yet to be matured with the ability to be molded and impressed.  She was spiritually and emotionally ripe for the planting of the Lord.

So I consider this statement against our own hearts this morning, asking the same question of us.  Are we spiritually and emotionally ripe for the planting of the Lord?  We are told in the Bible that not only is God pleased to dwell within us but through Christ we already have this indwelling.  ‘For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him’ Col 1:19.  ‘For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form, and you have been given fullness in Christ’ Col 2:9.  As believers the Holy Spirit has already come upon us, deeming us highly favored by God.  As believers the Lord is already with us and we already carry within us the child of God, Christ Jesus.  Do we act as if we are highly favored?  Does our walk testify to the truth that we are indwelled with God’s power?  Are we overshadowed with Him so that we are hidden in Christ?  Mary’s outward body showed proof of her pregnancy, and I am wondering this morning does our inward heart show proof of God’s love and power?

We should take our cue from that little child of yesteryear, and ripen our hearts towards the wonderment of God’s embodiment.  ‘But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart’ Luke 2:19.