No Room

We all know what it feels like to feel unwelcome or not wanted. It’s not easy moving towards people when you sense they’re moving away. I would suggest that most of us have felt this feeling at one time or another.

God made us relational people. We hurt when we feel rejected, ignored, or unwelcome. The feeling comes in various shapes and sizes. If we don’t reach out for God’s help, we will do what comes naturally, and treat the other person with the same exact response. 

Jesus came to the earth to show a different way. We don’t have to judge others. We don’t have to reject others. We don’t have to distance ourselves from others. Let's turn to the Christmas story and consider what it must have been like for Mary and Joseph to be turned away:

“She (Mary) wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger because there was no room available for them.” Luke 2:4-7

I’ve wondered umpteen times what it must have been like for Mary, nine months pregnant, riding a donkey all night long. (I remember riding in the mountains of Colorado ten hours in one day and pretty near couldn’t walk afterward!) To top that off, Mary and Joseph found only a stable for her birthing room! Can you imagine giving it your all, for such a long trek only to be turned away? No room at the inn. Unwelcomed. Unwanted. Dismissed.

Yet, all at once, they found just the place! The place that most would never even consider as a birthing room. A place that seemed quite humble and yet smelly and dirty. Yet, it was the exact place where Mary would give birth to Jesus, the Messiah. God was right there with Mary and Joseph in their aloneness. He had a plan all along!

Jesus came to make room for us. He wants a relationship with each one of us. Some welcome Him in. Others do the exact thing we do to others. We ignore, hide, or are just plain act indifferent toward the Messiah.

Will you make room for Jesus in your heart today? Not just today, but every day. Give Him your distracted heart. Welcome him into all the stress, the chaos, the brokenness, doubt, and anger. He will run toward you with open arms.

Give Him your hopes and fears.

Give Him your pains and hurts.

Give Him those moments when rejection stings.

Jesus will make all things new. I’m so grateful Jesus made room for us in His heart.

Nancy Abbott is the Chaplain of the YMCA of Greater San Antonio.