But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart.” Luke 2:19
While living in Oregon, I worked at a Bible camp in the hills with a wooded forest. My parents came for a visit several times each year, and a summer visit would usually be for about 10-12 days. We had a wonderful time. There was this one very interesting time I remember very clearly.
Our family was a bit smaller because we only had one child (Riley) who was two years old at the time. At some point during the trip, my mom discovered the diamond on her ring had fallen out. She has no idea when or where it fell out. Because we lived in this 360 acre forest and my mom and dad usually went on a walk each day - it really could have been anywhere. We all did our best to look for it as we walked our normal paths. But at the end of the visit, there was still no diamond. At that point we had all forgotten about the diamond and my parents got a new diamond set.
Fast forward six months later, my son and I were playing on the floor in our family room. He says "Mom I found Baba’s (his name for grandma) diamond." I chuckled in my head, thinking yeah right, a two-year-old found a diamond that was lost six months ago. I thought I would look at what he found thinking it would be some shiny costume jewelry that fell off some craft. As I got closer, I realized he was right. It was the diamond. We were so excited we called Baba and told her what Riley had found. (Hopefully you will not judge my lack of house cleaning skills that a diamond sat under our couch for six months. I hope that you will take away this little “nugget”.
Everything we say and do leaves an impact on those around us. Whether we realize it or not, kids remember the things we talk about and things that are important to us, based upon how we live and prioritize our lives. Riley realized at that young age that the diamond was important to BaBa and he remembered that for quite a while.
In Luke 2:19, it says, “But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart.” In the same way she treasured the moments of Jesus being born and the visits from the shepherds, she took note and realized the significance of Jesus Christ being born. My prayer for my kids and all the kids at church is that they will ponder who Jesus is and realize that the greatest thing of all is having a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.
