Come, Follow Me: New Testament 2023 (Jan. 9-15)

Imagine just having your first baby, carefully wrapping him in swaddling clothes. You’re trying to catch your breath after this marvelous experience, still in utter disbelief that this has really happened. You hold your child, and know His name is Jesus, and that He, the one who the angel said would be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest, was just born in the lowliest of all places in the humblest circumstances imaginable. 

Suddenly a group of shepherds, just out of the field and out of breath from running, show up wanting to see your baby, fresh from heaven. You don’t know them; they don’t know you. Their focus is only on seeing the child. Your mind swirls with confusion. Why are they here? How did they know where to find us? What do they want? 

After the initial excitement of seeing the child, the shepherds settle on the ground and begin to answer your questions. Quietly, to not waken the baby, they share their story about this angelic birth announcement. You ask them to repeat several times the words of the angel about your son. “…Fear not: for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord. And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger” (Luke 2:11, 12). 

After they leave and the space is quiet except for the animal sounds, and the sweet breathing of your newborn baby, you sit against the cool wall and ponder “all these things (Luke 2:19).”

Pondering is thinking carefully and deeply about important things. It’s savoring a cup of hot chocolate and feeling the warmth spread throughout your whole body, not just reading the recipe on how to make it. 

Relationships. Testimony. Holy words. Your life direction. Experiences. Goals. Becoming. Choose one this week and spend some time reflecting, wondering, listening...pondering.  

“Therefore, go ye unto your homes and ponder upon the things which I have said, and ask of the Father, in my name, that ye may understand, and prepare your minds for the morrow, and I come unto you again” (3 Nephi 17:3).