LUKE 2:19-20

 But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart. The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told.

TO PONDER

So what do you do today? Are Christmas dishes still waiting for your attention? Maybe your only plan today is a lunch of Christmas leftovers in front of the first day of the Boxing Day Test Match or the start of the Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race?

In today's reading we hear two different responses to the birth of Jesus. Mary, the mother of Jesus, quietly treasures all that has happened in her heart and reflects on it all. The shepherds go out and tell anyone they can find, all that they have seen and heard.

Both responses are good. There are times when we need to rest, be still, and know that God is God and that he is in control and holds us in His hands. This is especially true when we have been through a challenging or traumatic experience, like I imagine Mary had done, giving birth to the Son of God in an animal shed.

However, as people who have heard and seen what God has done, like the shepherds, there are also times when it is our task, to not keep these things to ourselves and to actually go out and talk to others about it. To 'go tell it on the mountain' as the old Christmas hymn reminds us.

The key is to not just do one and never do the other. Both have a role to play in the life of a disciple of Jesus. When we ponder and reflect we deepen our understanding and our relationship with the one who calls us his own. But it is also as we go to tell of all his wondrous deeds that we get to see him at work in and trough us making all things new. Each one helps to develop the other and both are part of the fulness of life in Christ.

PRAYER: Almighty and Eternal God, thank you for the ways that you have blessed me and all the wondrous things you have done in my life. Please help me both to treasure them always in my heart, but also to willingly share them with others so they too may come to know that you sent Jesus for them and that they may know all that you have done for them. Amen

Today's devotion written by Mathew von Stanke, LifeWay Newcastle.