Ponder and pay attention

Do you ever come away from watching the nightly news feeling scared and helpless? Of course, we do. But we don’t have to give in to that fear.

“Fear is the mind-killer,” wrote a science fiction author, and he’s onto something. We’ve all felt that flash of fear at one time or another, that flash of adrenaline that screams at us to fight, flee, or freeze, right now. But stopping to think is always the wisest course of action.

That’s what Mary, the mother of Jesus, did when the angel suddenly showed up and spoke to her. Startled, she might have been, but she stopped to think. She paid attention. She took in what the angel said, compared it with the facts she knew, and asked a question, “How can this be, since I am a virgin?” (Luke 1:34).

She didn’t panic. She pondered, paid attention, compared what she heard with the facts she knew, and asked for answers before she said yes. Mary’s example of calm thoughtfulness is one we can follow.

This message is an excerpt from a Women of the ELCA blog by Audrey Novak Riley. On this 12th Sunday after Pentecost, we remember Mary, mother of our Lord.

Daily Grace has been offering you things to ponder and things to pray about for more than 10 years. For free. Women of the ELCA provides many other free online resources, too—see welca.org/resources. Please support Women of the ELCA at welca.org/give.