Mary Didn't Have a Facebook Page

Right now I have 1,756 pictures on my phone.  Mostly of my kids or family events.  I love digitization which allows us to carry these memories around with us wherever we go!  As parents, we especially want to capture every magical and extraordinary moment in our child's life for posterity.  I also have dozens of friends who regularly post photo albums on their Facebook pages or blogs.  It's a fabulous way to keep in touch.

And yet, I recently attended a significant event in which none of us had our phones or cameras handy.  I was amazed how different the emphasis was.  As I look back, I realize that my recollection of that day has been permanently imprinted on my heart and mind differently than if it were digitized.

I think Mary, the mother of Jesus, understood this well.  After all, she had neither a Smart Phone nor a Facebook page; she didn't even have an instant Polaroid camera!  She simply had to tuck the precious moments deep within her heart.  While the shepherds were mesmerized at the discovery of her Baby in a cow's trough and proceeded to announce it to the world (a.k.a. post it on their Facebook page), Mary was apparently contemplating life in a very different way.  She quietly and poignantly retreated to her own thoughts.  I'm fascinated with the account of her response to the birth of Christ as recorded in Luke 2:19

"Mary committed these things to memory and considered them carefully."  Other translations explain it similarly:  She "kept all these sayings, weighing and pondering them in her heart."  She "meditated on them...turned them over in her mind."  One version even suggests that Mary couldn't escape her thoughts; she kept "mulling them over in her heart."  And my personal favorite:  "She treasured all these things."  Ahhh....what a description of sacredness.

At this Christmas season, instead of constantly reaching for a camera, what if we reached for a hand? Rather than being fixated by a laptop screen or Iphone, perhaps we fix our gaze upon the child standing before us.  Admittedly, we wouldn't be capturing it on film, but we would most certainly lock the moment in our hearts.  We might just ponder it, mull it over and yes, even treasure the season.  Oh, I know these memories would not be nearly as crisp as a Facebook post, but perhaps it's a way of balancing the emphasis a bit.

I have an opportunity to do this tonight as I head out to my son's high school Christmas concert.  Of course I'll snap a few shots -- but instead of having my hand on the Iphone the whole time, I think I'll grasp the hand of my husband sitting next to me, sink my eyes upon my boy...and drink deeply of this one-of-a-kind musical memory.

The unique thing about our memories is that no two are the same.  Tonight while I'm enthralled by the trombone section, the person on my left might be straining to see the percussionist in the back row...or the little sister on the sidelines dancing to her brother's clarinet solo.  We each capture life's moments in different ways -- and that's a good thing.

What moments will you find to treasure this Christmas season?