One more aunt story....this aunt is not 96 but she is 80 and that is worth blogging also!

This one is because it is Christmas and my aunt shared something with me from a traditional Christmas scripture that has been helpful.

My Aunt Marlene is funny. Very. Very. Funny.

As I have told you before, I was raised on humor and she is one of those who raised me up in it....

...BUT, everything in  her life was NOT always funny.

One might not know that because she had...and still has....an ability to find laughter in most things....and her out going personality with the Southern drawl delivery helps a ton.

After all, she is the one who told me you can say anything you want about someone 

as long as you end it with BLESS HER HEART!

But, like I said, life brought her struggles just as it does us all.  One of those times when I had just walked through some of mine and knew she had walked through years of her own, I asked her where she got her strength.

She replied immediately that when she thought she just could not do it anymore, she would think of Mary, the mother of Jesus, and how the scriptures said that, "Mary pondered these things in her heart."

She found strength in those words so, like Mary, would sit still and ponder.

Simple.

But powerful.

So I tried it.  And it helped.

It still does.

Try it.

Ponder: "consider quietly and deeply".

Pondering allows us to find the answer within.

Because often the answer is there.

In our heart, even when it is broken.

My heart had been broken and her words helped me as did her strength.

Maybe they can help someone reading this too.

I hope so.

Every Christmas when I hear, "Mary pondered these things in her heart," I am reminded of my Aunt Marlene....

....and I think, quietly and deeply, "Bless her heart".