Mary has always intrigued me. How a teenage girl could act in such faith and maturity has long baffled me. When I taught the middle school girls, I often pointed out how in all of her discussions with Gabriel, and even in her preparation to give birth to the Son of God, Mary only asks one question. Just one. And then--I can almost see her face--she makes the decision to do what she's told. To trust. To leap. To have a child. To be ridiculed and rejected. She is determined.
Her fiance stays by her side, and together, they raise the most unusual child ever to grace this planet. The child who would one day save us all.
Throughout Mary's story, we're told this much: Mary ponders it in her heart.
I wish I could be more like Mary.
I wish I could keep my mouth shut.
Wish I could learn when to say things and when to let them go.
But I just don't do a good job.
I know--Scripture shows us--that Mary wasn't perfect. That, in fact, there were certain things she didn't ponder in her heart. Mary is perhaps the only person who could have told the Savior of humanity what to do: Turn water to wine, she said. And do it now.
And He did.
So I know Mary had her opinions. But it sounds like more often that not, she kept them to herself.
My question, then, is this: When do I ponder it in my heart?
And when do share my opinion, bring things out in the open?
How do I do what Mary seemed to instinctively know? How do I choose when to share and when not to share? When to hold people accountable and when to let them make their own mistakes? When to provide others with my thoughts and feelings and when to keep them in?
How do you decide?
1 comment:
This thought has plagued many since the begining of time. It is not a female only trait, many if not all men wonder did I say enough or speak up to little. I sit through some events without a peep and than I can't no I won't keep my mouth shut during a movie.
Remmber even silence communicates a great deal. The only thing with silence it leaves a whole lot to interpretation. I have a desire to communicate and express more as my journey in this life goes on. Your questions and your thoughts show you care.
Remember what W. S. once wrote, that a Life unexamined is not worth ............."
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