And she gave birth to her first-born son; and she wrapped him in cloths, and laid Him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn. Luke 2: 7 (NIV)
It's been quite a stressful few weeks for our family. My daughter; son-in-law; and their three children have been making travel arrangements to return home for Christmas, from their Mission Home in China. This trip was going to be especially trying because their third child was just born in November. Before they could travel, they had to obtain their new daughter's U.S. Passport and travel documents. Once that was in hand, it was off to Beijing; then a flight to Tokyo; then on to the U.S. I've spared you a lot of details, but suffice it to say that the journey from their small China town to our home town in the U.S.; in time for Christmas, was nothing short of a miracle. God's hand was truly on them during their journey. What an exciting, tearful reunion it was this past Friday when they finally arrived at the airport.
In preparation for the exciting day when they arrived, my wife and I had been working feverishly to get our house in order and to make room for all of them. There was a lot of clutter to clear. We had to move furniture around and re-arrange bedrooms. We bought a new mattress for one of the beds, along with new linens and other items. We spent hours transforming a seldom used bedroom into a little boys playground of Spider-Man and Wolverine. We climbed in our attic and got some old baby furniture out of storage and got things ready for our new Grand-Daughter. Needless to say, we wanted to make sure everything was clean; neat; and in order for the big arrival date. Our number one priority was making room for them. Everything else was secondary.
I was thinking today about times in my Christian life when I didn't welcome the Lord with open arms and HE was secondary in my life. I was too involved in my career. I was too involved with my family. I was too involved in my hobbies. It was easy to find excuses and justify things to myself. Afterall, I had to make a living. I had to spend time with my family. I had to have time to myself to play tennis or golf. It didn't take me long to figure out that I was no different than the Inn-Keeper in Bethlehem. My life was too cluttered with other "things" and I was too busy for Jesus.
All I can do is tell you how my life has changed for the better once I found room for Jesus in my life. I don't have any doubt that the Lord will do the same for you; the only thing you have to do is make room and open the door.
