This post is an excerpt from the family devotion included in the Family Advent Calendar Kit from Vanessa Myers of Family Faith Builders.
“But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart.” Luke 2:19
When you think about Christmas, what are some things that come to mind?
Your first response might be opening presents! Maybe you also said Christmas lights, candy canes, trees, ornaments, baking cookies, or traveling to visit family.
How many of you said the birth of Jesus? As Christians, it’s the whole reason we celebrate Christmas! We don’t celebrate because we get gifts, but we celebrate because Jesus was born on this earth as a gift from God to save us from our sins so we could live forever with Him in heaven one day.
As Christians, we also celebrate the season of Advent. This is the first season of the Christian church year that begins four Sundays before Christmas Day and ends on Christmas Eve. Advent begins on a different Sunday each year, which is why some Advent calendars or kits start on December 1 and go through to December 24 or 25.
Advent is a season where we wait for the arrival of Jesus and prepare our hearts for His coming. It’s a season to remember the greatest gift we have ever gotten from God, which is Jesus.
Do you know who else remembered God during this time of the birth of Jesus?
Mary!
The Bible tells us that after Jesus was born, the shepherds came to visit Him. They were so excited that they left and went and told everyone about His birth! After they left, Mary began to think about what God had done through her. The Bible says she “treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart” (Luke 2:19).
I think that after Jesus was born, Mary finally realized just how amazing the birth of Jesus was. She had given birth to God’s Son, and He would do powerful things while He was here on earth. So she chose to remember all that happened to her during this time: from the angel visiting her, to her visit with her cousin, Elizabeth and her baby leaping in the womb when he heard Mary’s voice, to traveling a long way and going into labor when she was not at home, to giving birth in an unexpected place where there were animals, to shepherds visiting her because they had been told of the birth of a Savior. Mary remembered and stored all these things in her heart.
As children’s ministry leaders, that’s what we want families to do too, right? Remember Jesus and His birth and the events that took place during that first Christmas. To store up all these things in their hearts, commit them to memory, and thank God for Jesus every day, not just at Christmastime.
Explore some of our favorite Advent resources below or here, and remember to take time to store up the beauty of this season in your own heart too, kidmin leader.
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