Do You Have Room

To my daughter, 

                Thank you for singing the song Do You Have Room with the Primary today in Sacrament Meeting for the Christmas program. Here are some of the words of the song: 

A star arose, a wondrous light;

A sign from God this was the Holy night.

And yet so few would go to see

The Babe who came to rescue you and me.

This Child Divine is now a King.

The gift of life to all the world He brings.

And all mankind He saves from doom,

But on that night for Him, there was no room. 

Have you ever wondered what it would have been like to be there that night over two thousand years ago? To see the star like the wise men or to hear the angels like the shepherds or to see the new baby at the temple like Simeon and Anna would have been the chance of a lifetime, and surely it changed those people forever. We read of the shepherds after their experience, “And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things that they had heard and seen, as it was told unto them” (Luke 2:20). There were, though, those who did not receive Mary and Joseph in their inn when they looked for a place that the baby could be born. The account reads, “There was no room for them in the inns” (JST Luke 2:7). Perhaps these innkeepers felt they didn’t have time to try to make one more place for people to stay in or that they were too busy to try to help this young family or that they didn’t think Joseph would pay so they refused him service. Whatever their reasons for not making room, they certainly missed out on the most incredible opportunity of their lives to have the Son of God in their midst! And so, the story invites you and me to ask whether we are making room for Him in our own lives. The song continues this way: 

Do you have room for the Savior,

And do you seek Him anew?

Have you a place for the One

Who lived and died for you?

Are you as humble as a shepherd boy,

Or as wise as men of old?

Would you have come that night?

Would you have sought the light?

Do you have room? 

We must learn to make room for Him in our lives, not by providing Him a physical place to stay but by using our time in such a way that invites His Spirit to be with us.

                So how do we make room for Jesus in our lives? The most obvious answers include taking time to pray to our Father in Heaven in His name, reading the scriptures, and going to Church each Sunday to worship and remember Him. Perhaps, though, the most important is to make room for others by helping and serving them whenever we have the opportunity. King Benjamin taught, “When ye are in the service of your fellow beings ye are only in the service of your God” (Mosiah 2:17). Similarly, Jesus taught, “Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me” (Matthew 25:40). When we help and bless others, we are in reality serving Him. As we open our door to those in need, we are opening it indeed to Him. So, remember that every time you help others, whether in your own family or someone else’s, then you are opening that inn door to let Jesus in.  

Love,

Dad