Taking Time to Treasure and Ponder

summer plans

Friends.

There’s a verse in the Gospels I’ve been pondering latey, it comes from Luke 2 just after the birth of Jesus.

Jesus was born.

The Shepherds came to see him.

And …

When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child, ¹⁸ and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them. ¹⁹ But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart. ²⁰ The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told.

… Yeah, verse 19 - “but Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart.”

I’m at a place in my journey where something new is being birthed through me. It’s been growing for a while, but over these last 5 or 6 months of writing here on Substack/Patreon, chatting about it in various podcast recordings.

I don’t know; but I feel like it’s bursting out of me.

And my initial reaction? My initial inclination? It’s to tell the whole world, right?

I’m excited about what I’m learning.

I’m excited about learning more.

I’m excited about the possibilities.

I’m excited about the potential of a new way to be.

… And I want to write about it, talk about it, share it out to everyone who will listen.

Yeah.

I want to be like the Shepherds - I’ve seen the “baby Jesus”, I’ve seen the “new thing”, I’ve seen the “Good News” and I want to “spread word concerning what has been told to me”.

And there’s a time for that, of course; and I’ve been doing a lot of that here on Substack and Patreon over the last 6-ish months.

But.

For now?

For a bit?

For this Summer?

I want to switch gears and tap into the Spirit of Mary and take time to “treasure up all these things and ponder them in my heart.”

That’s hard for me, though - REALLY hard. Creating content is almost an addiction of sorts - everything I write, everything I create … it helps me process, it helps me order my thoughts. Ever since my days back in Bible College, I’ve loved writing and sharing and preaching and creating content around the Scriptures and God and Spirituality and all the things - for others, sure, but (perhaps mostly) for myself and my own formation/evolution/growth.

And then.

Merge that with getting an email from someone who says, “omg ME TOO - I feel this, I’ve been pondering this, I’m here too.”

Phew, yes - the “need” to create things is real.

And so I’m challenging myself - I have podcast episodes recorded and edited through September and will attempt to take the Summer months to …

Record NO podcasts (except 1 I’m trying to schedule).

Write NO new blog posts.

Share NO new ideas.

Share NOTHING I’m pondering.

… and will reserve this space along with Patreon for sharing out new art and announcing new podcast episodes (still bi-weekly with a few extras tossed in here and there) so that I can take ample time over these next few months to “treasure up and ponder in my heart” the things that are stirring in me and being birthed through me. I’ll spend time reading, journaling, reflecting, and wondering about these different ways “to be” that we’ve been exploring and I’ll pick up writing more regularly in the Fall-ish.

Sound good?

Much love,

• Glenn || PATREON / ART STUDIO

PS - Summer starts TODAY for the Sieperts as it’s Jordan’s LAST day of second grade! We OFFICIALLY have a THIRD GRADER in the house! 🥳