A Weary World, A Weary Heart, and a Hope That Still Holds

I am so sorry for the rough road you may have walked to get to this day. Christmas Eve can make grief feel even thicker, especially if this month hasn’t looked the way you hoped it would. Maybe you didn’t end up doing every tradition you planned. Maybe the holidays felt heavier than you expected. Maybe joy has been hard to access this year. If that’s true for you, I want to gently remind you: it’s okay to be weary. It’s okay to not be okay, to not feel full of holiday cheer, and to not have had the capacity for everything you hoped to do. The hurts, heartaches, and exhaustion can feel especially intense tonight.

When you’re pregnant around Christmas or have lost a baby and are heading into Christmas without them, it can really make you think a lot about Mary. While it’s tempting to go straight to the iconic manger scene, she had quite a few obstacles in her path along the way.

I’ve been imagining her confusion as the angel approached her with the most important news. How tired she must have been from the journey to Bethlehem. How disappointed she was when there was not a proper room available. How strange it must have been to deliver a baby with so high a calling and so great a purpose, without truly knowing the extent of what was happening. How desperate she must have been for rest, laying her newborn baby in a feeding trough. I have a feeling there was some weariness in her bones too.

You probably remember the part of the story where the shepherds find out about Jesus, but here’s a quick recap:

Shortly after Jesus’ birth (that same night), an angel appears to the shepherds and tells them a Savior has been born and that they will find Him as a “baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger” (Luke 2:12). The shepherds quickly go to Bethlehem to see for themselves and tell Mary and Joseph what they have just seen and heard. But here are the verses that have really stood out to me lately:

“And all who heard it wondered at what the shepherds told them, but Mary treasured up all these things, pondering them in her heart.” (Luke 2:18–19)

In the original Greek, the word for treasured means “to preserve knowledge or memories (as for later use).” Although she didn’t fully comprehend the magnitude of the moment, she did not react with doubt or annoyance as far as we know. Despite her probable exhaustion and physical aches, she did not turn the shepherds away or ignore their excitement. Instead, she savored the scenes before her, tucking them away like little files in her memory.

She treasured and she pondered.

The word for ponder means “to bring together in one’s mind, to confer with oneself.” I imagine her thinking back to Gabriel’s visit just nine months earlier, lining up the pieces as the story unfolded a little more before her eyes. I’m sure she remembered her servant-hearted response and her song of praise that followed the angelic revelation (Luke 1:38; Luke 1: 46-55).

It’s no coincidence that Mary was chosen to be the mother of God. From what I gather, she was tired but trusting, hurting but hopeful, exhausted but expectant.

We see similar characteristics twelve years later when Jesus (as a young boy) stays behind in Jerusalem to teach in the temple, unbeknownst to His parents. Understandably, Mary is shaken while searching for her son. But Jesus replies that He has been “in [His] Father’s house.” While she did not quite understand His meaning at the time, verse 51 says once again that she “treasured up all these things in her heart” (Luke 2:51).

Another file tucked away. Another piece for reflection as she continued to raise her Son “in wisdom and in stature and in favor with God and man” (Luke 2:52). And while she had yet to witness the full, glorious gospel that would follow, she lived out a thoughtful, obedient, trusting presence that rarely plays out today.

Here are the main things I am learning from Mary as I’ve been meditating on the Christmas story this year:

• You don’t have to identify all of the answers right away.
  In a culture that demands immediate reactions, sometimes the holiest choice is to be quietly contemplative. To think before you act and listen more than you speak.
• Your difficult circumstances do not define your attitude.
  Mary’s circumstances were far from ideal. Yet instead of focusing on the hardships by grumbling or complaining, we see her praise God in humility, walk forward in obedience, and continually reflect on all that He was doing.
• Your faithful presence has purpose (regardless of age or status).
  As a young, unwed girl, Mary was not who people would have imagined God would use. Yet He chose her. God delights in using the everyday faithfulness of ordinary people to bring forth His glory.

As a mother now, I also can’t help but think about Mary years later, standing beside the cross, watching her oldest Son suffer for her sake and ours. In those sorrowful moments, did she think about Jesus as a sleeping baby in the manger or a confident boy in the temple? Did she reflect on His adolescence or His many miracles?

I am confident that many of those scenes she treasured and pondered flooded her memories in those agonizing hours, deepening her grief in a way we can’t fully imagine. But her faithful presence at the crucifixion was noted in John’s Gospel. And in His final moments, Jesus made sure His mother would be cared for (John 19:25–27).

Praise God the story doesn’t end with a weeping mother at the foot of a cross. Three days later, He rose from the dead and revealed the culmination of the greatest story ever told. Because of His birth, life, death, and resurrection, we have the hope of life with God in perfect peace forever.

A thrill of hope, the weary world rejoices indeed.

As we celebrate Christmas tomorrow and get ready to close out another calendar year very soon, may we too treasure and ponder our own moments in light of the Greatest Story.

Merry Christmas Eve,
Jennie Parks

Jennie is the Executive Director for Hope Mommies. She and her husband Brian live in Oregon and have four children together— Trenton, Paige who has been in Heaven with Jesus since 2010, Mason, and Cora. If you were to knock on her front door today, you’d find her in something comfortable drinking a hot cup of tea, while trying to figure out how to balance all the things that make up a life. She enjoys spending time in God’s word, fresh flowers, board games with her kids, cooking, and evening walks in her neighborhood. She adores being a new creation in Christ and prays she reflects Him well on this earth.