12/1/2021 0 Comments Will you make room in your inn?I had a friend tell me the other day, "I love the (holiday) season more than Christmas day."
I do too. The season leading up to Christmas day has always been a season of reminder - a season of anticipation - a season of hope. In his devotional - Live in Grace, Walk in Love - Bob Goff ponders the question: "I wonder how long it was before the inn keeper knew what he had missed?" Of course, Goff is referencing the biblical story about Mary and Joseph being turned away by an inn keeper, and instead given space in a barn to experience the birth of the baby Jesus. Would he have turned them away if he had known this was indeed the baby Jesus? The bible doesn't answer that question, but we can. If you are a Christian, you know every day who is showing up in the inn of your life looking for a room. Every day, we get the choice, do I let him in, or do I send him to the barn. To me, the holiday season is a great chance to remind myself there is no better time to re-write the Christmas story in my life. There's no better time to remind myself that my Christmas story isn't about a baby that is coming, it's about one that's already here. In my life, the story of the inn keeper isn't a once a year reflection, it's an every moment question. Is there room in my inn? If I'm being honest - most days I don't let Jesus in my inn - I keep him out in the barn. I go visit him in that manger when it's convenient. Most days my life stays way to busy, it is way too overbooked to offer a room to Jesus. I don't feel like Jesus is beating me up for that. But I also don't feel like he's going to stop beating at the door in my inn. Jesus is humble enough to stay out in the barn, but he loves me too much to want to be shut out of my life. The holiday season is a great season to reflect - and maybe make the beautiful assumption - if the inn keeper had known who that was - he would have made room in the inn. The holiday season is a great season to be reminded - we DO know. We DO know who is looking for a room in our inn. This holiday season, maybe more than any other time of the year, spend some time hearing that knock on your soul. Be reminded we know who is knocking. And be reminded, it's not someone desparate to escape the cold of the barn, it's someone longing to bring warmth to our lives. I love the holiday season. It's my chance to say yes where the inn keeper said no. What a beautiful way to re-write the Christmas story in our lives. What a beautiful way to experience hope.
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Robert "Keith" CartwrightI am a friend of God, a dad, a runner who never wins, but is always searching for beauty in the race. Archives
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