225: "Mary's Contemplative Nature" with Rebekah Hargraves

The Gospel-Shaped Life Podcast

I am delighted to be joining you on the show for an episode I have wanted to record for a while now! Today we will be covering the important and timely Advent topic of “Mary’s Contemplative Nature”. May you come away from this episode inspired and encouraged for the busy days ahead!

What I Cover on this Episode:

~The glimpse Luke 2:19 gives us into Mary’s contemplative nature

~The striking comparison and connection between the content of Mary’s Magnificat in Luke 1 and what we observe her doing in Luke 2:19

~12 reflection questions for you to contemplate and prayerfully process through this Advent

~The many blessings of the contemplative life

~Why it’s so important to follow Mary’s example in cultivating a life of slowness, stillness, awareness, contemplation, and processing with the Lord

~The context surrounding Luke 2:19 and what stands out about it

~Mary’s example of making time for contemplation even in the middle of an incredibly stretching and full season

~Where Mary’s theological depth of insight came from

~How we hear the still small voice of God

~How the contemplative life leads to faith-building ebenezer stones of remembrance

~The sense of peace and calm which the contemplative life gives us

~How the contemplative life equips us to fight back against spiritual warfare

~The contemplative life as an example to the watching world

~And More!

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Resources Mentioned:

My Substack

Quotes to Remember:

“What we read in Luke 2:19 about Mary ‘treasuring all these things in her heart and meditating on them’ goes along incredibly well with the content of her Magnificat in Luke 1. The connection is striking. What was she treasuring? What was she meditating on? Based on the context, she’s thinking about what God has just done in and for and through the shepherds. And if we know anything about shepherds during this time in history, we know they were the lowly despised ones, the outcasts. And it was to these very people that God chose to reveal Christ’s birth. And it was people precisely like the lowly shepherds that Mary praises God for raising up. In Luke 1, she praises Him for his hear for the lowly, and in Luke 2 she is contemplating what she has just seen God do in real time proof of His heart for the lowly. I find that to be so strikingly beautiful.”

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“What I want us to understand about Mary’s contemplative nature is that as all of these things are literally happening in, to, and around her, she is not checking out. So much has and is happening to her, but she is not checking out. She is not rushing through. She is actually stopping and entering fully into each present moment as they come. She’s taking everything in. She’s noticing all of it and not forgetting a bit of it. She’s pondering what God is doing. She is seeing and taking it in and then going a step further to actually meditating on what He is doing. In the midst of the busyness, in the midst of full days that are full of earth-shattering miracles, she is stopping to treasure these things and to mediate on them.”

“Mary is clearly a contemplative at heart, which I would say could explain her theological depth of insight that we see in her Magnificat - after all, there are so many blessings of the contemplative life, not the least of which are depth of theological insight and a close, daily relationship with God.”

“The contemplative life enables us to actually hear from God. God does not shout. His is a still-small voice. He whispers to our hearts, minds, and souls. That is how He speaks to us. And in order to hear from Him, we have to slow down, get quiet, and be still and know. We have to have a contemplative life to truly hear from Him, to take the time to be in the Word, to take the time for prayer, to take the time to hear from Him.”

“The contemplative life enables us to actually be able to notice, to be aware of, and to remember what God is doing. When we are rushing through life so fast, at breakneck speeds, and we don’t have time to sit, to be still and know, to cultivate quiet, to sit in the stillness with the Lord, when we are hurried and harried, overwhelmed and stressed going from one thing to another all day long, every week, every month, we are unable to notice, to be aware of, and to remember what God is doing.”

“It is only through seeing and remembering what God is doing and has done that our faith is built as we are made aware of Him and how active He truly is in our lives.”

“The contemplative life also enables us to proclaim to others what God is doing and thereby watch there faith be built up, too.”

“Another blessing of the contemplative life is that it provides us with a peace that we can take with us into our daily life with all of its ups and downs. There is a sense of peace and stillness of soul and quietness of heart and mind that we can only experience when we slow down enough to get quiet with the Lord, to give our hearts and minds and bodies time and space to contemplate, to meditate, to treasure the things of God in our hearts.”

“In the book of Philippians we are told that peace passes all understanding and that it guards our hearts and minds in Christ. Peace only comes when we cast our cares on Him, when we are anxious for nothing, when in everything, by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, we make our requests known to God. In other words, if you want peace, you don’t get it by not praying. You don’t get it by rushing through life, not hearing from God, and not slowing down enough to contemplate what He is doing. You get that peace that you can take with you into your daily life and hold firmly to not matter what happens in the ups and downs of life by being in communication with the God of the universe. And that requires us to be still and know, to slow down, to get quiet, and to live this contemplative life.”

“This contemplative life deepens your relationship and intimacy with God. Your relationship is strengthened which then helps to fortify you against spiritual warfare.”

“The contemplative life serves as an example to the watching world of the different pace that is possible for followers of God. The peace-filled pace, the pace that calms the spirit, that does bring peace, that slows us down, that quiets our minds, that ceases the overwhelm.”

“I have 12 reflection questions for you to contemplate today. The first one is: ‘What am I carrying this Advent that is weighing heavily on my heart?’”

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