PONDER

1 : to weigh in the mind : appraise (pondered their chances of success)
2 : to think about : reflect on (pondered the events of the day)

One of my favorite verses relating to the story of Jesus' birth is Luke 2:19. It comes near the end of the story: Mary and Joseph have traveled long distances for the census. They've struggled to find a place to sleep. Mary's given birth nearly alone, without her mother there, without women from her community, with only the company of a nervous, exhausted fiancee and some animals. She's surely beyond the point of exhaustion, overwhelmed and probably a little scared. So when some strange shepherds arrive to wax eloquent about the child she's just given birth to, Mary takes note. In fact, she does more than that. She stores up their words as treasures and ponders them in her heart.

I love this image of a mother creating a place in her heart for the words that others have of her child. And I want to do this with my own daughters. Yesterday was a day packed with dance from start to finish. We left our house at 7:30 for A to rehearse and then perform at a Christmas party. She had missed Friday night's final rehearsal with her class to dance in opening night of The Nutcracker, but she did a great job. When an acquaintance realized A was my daughter, she came over and said, "She is a beautiful dancer. A total natural." A few months earlier, the owner of a dance studio told me that A has a musicality that you can't teach, that it just comes from within her.

I know next to nothing about dance. I just know that A loves to do it, that she is radiant while doing it, that she lives and breathes dancing. So as her mom, I see these little nuggets from friends, acquaintances and near-strangers as treasures for me to store up and ponder in my heart. Sometimes it's difficult as the mom to really see my daughters for who they are. It's my job to train them, to empower them, to help them grow into the strong, beautiful women I see lurking in their hearts.

So I'm thankful when someone tells me that A has a gift for the thing she loves, when B's teacher tells me that she has a strong internal sense of right and wrong, when K's teacher laughs with me about the stories she tells. And I'm trying to store up these treasures and ponder them. I want to think on my daughters' gifts and encourage their use. I want treasure boxes for A, B and K in my heart and I want to pull these treasures out and show them to my daughters, affirming them in who they are when they doubt themselves.