Every now and then I come across a phrase or fragment or verse so richly evocative that it seems almost to be a song just as it is. When this happens I gather it up and rush back to my songmaker’s workshop to craft a jeweler’s setting for it so I can show it off, and in the time-honored tradition of all artists everywhere, claim it as my own. Might be something I’ve read many times before but on this particular day it reaches out and takes hold of my imagination; takes hold of my heart. Reading through the second chapter of Luke, I came to the nineteenth verse and there it was, a refrain just waiting to be sung.
“Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart.”
Having just delivered the savior into the world, and with a heavenly host of angels coming and going and filling the air with gloria and hallelujah, and shepherds showing up all full of awe and wonder, and spreading the word to anyone who’ll listen, and Joseph, I’m sure, stunned and bemused, Mary sits quietly taking stock, cherishing the moment.
I didn’t want to intrude upon this shimmering moment by barging in with a lot of talk and carrying on. Best, really, that my presence not be felt at all. Let me just slip in and wait quietly by the door. Trembling in awe.
And All These Things Mary Treasured Up
words and music © Garrison Doles
from his CD Songmaker’s Christmas
And all these things
Mary treasured up
And she pondered them
In her heart
Only a girl
Barely a woman
Even the angels
Trembling in awe
Infant divine
Holiest of holies
Quietly sleeping
In a manger of straw
And we sing
Glo-o-o-o-o-ria
In excelsis Deo
Glo-o-o-o-o-ria
In excelsis Deo
And all these things
Mary treasured up
And she pondered them
In her heart
Laudamus te
Benedicimus te
Adoramus te
Glorificamus te
Glo-o-o-o-o-ria
In excelsis Deo
Glo-o-o-o-o-ria
In excelsis Deo
And all these things
Mary treasured up
And she pondered them
In her heart
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