Picture this: I\u2019m wrapped in the warm twinkle of our Christmas trees, surrounded by tiny village churches, my mom\u2019s beloved ceramic tree with its colorful little bulbs, and my cherished Nativity sets. The air is filled with the sweet aroma of Maple Sugar Scentsy wax melts, and everything feels just right.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I am pondering. And what better time to ponder than during Advent and Christmas, when our hearts and homes seem to glow a little brighter?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A couple of nights ago, over Chick-fil-A sandwiches and a decadent peppermint shake, we overheard a touching conversation. Behind our table was an older gentleman sitting with his young (maybe around 8 years old) granddaughter — in her pink dance costume.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He leaned in and asked her, \u201cDo you know what cogitate means?\u201d He didn\u2019t wait for an answer before explaining, \u201cIt means to think deeply about something.\u201d He went on to talk about the importance of thinking before speaking.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Carl and I were smitten. There we sat, with me savoring my peppermint shake and both of us savoring that delightful word: cogitate. We couldn\u2019t stop repeating it, letting it settle into our hearts like a favorite carol.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It\u2019s a word that reminds me of Luke 2:19: \u201cMary treasured all these things and pondered them in her heart.\u201d Christmas invites us to pause, ponder, and treasure the precious moments as Mary did.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This season, I\u2019m trying to embrace the art of pondering over hustling. Instead of running from one thing to the next, I\u2019m choosing to slow down and think deeply about the miracle of the King of Kings coming to live among us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The prophets often reminded God\u2019s people to remember His works, and Mary shows us the beauty of treasuring and pondering God\u2019s goodness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I followed her example a couple of days ago. I wrote my Christmas letters to each of our nineteen beloved family members, pouring my heart into every word. I want them to know how much they mean to me. I\u2019m sitting in gratitude, treasuring memories, pondering God\u2019s love, and, yes, cogitating.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
What if this Christmas we all took time to ponder? To halt the busyness, reflect on Mary and Joseph\u2019s journey, and remember the Savior\u2019s gift? Who knows? A little pondering might just be the answer to the perfect Christmas gift to ourselves.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Picture this: I\u2019m wrapped in the warm twinkle of our Christmas trees, surrounded by tiny village churches, my mom\u2019s beloved ceramic tree with its colorful little bulbs, and my cherished Nativity sets. The air is filled with the sweet aroma of Maple Sugar Scentsy wax melts, and everything feels just right. I am pondering. And…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":21291,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[579,30960,2618,1769,251,30963,30958,30957,1392,267,5635,517,4236,4255,30961,2996,44,30962,5150,30956,1622],"class_list":["post-21290","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-advent","tag-ceramic-tree","tag-chick-fil-a","tag-christian","tag-christmas","tag-christmas-letters","tag-christmas-trees","tag-cogitate","tag-facebook","tag-faith","tag-humble","tag-luke-219","tag-mary-pondered","tag-mary-treasured","tag-nativity-sets","tag-pause","tag-peace","tag-peppermint-shake","tag-ponder","tag-ponderer","tag-treasure"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21290","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=21290"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21290\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21296,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21290\/revisions\/21296"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/21291"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=21290"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=21290"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=21290"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}