Preparing Him Room, Part 3

This will be brief because I know you're busy. So am I.

But I'm continuing to daily think about how to make room for Jesus.

In Part 1, we talked about how there was no room at the Inn for Jesus from the start, and even today, we struggle to prepare Him room as Christmas approaches. We forget that making room for Him takes intentionality and a repetitive choosing to move other things aside. The first post focused mainly on making room for Jesus in our schedules. In Part 2, I talked about making room for Him in our budgets, and I shared one way our family did that this year.

But today, I'm feeling the pressure. My voice is more tense, and the responsibilities of the season are again shoving the baby in the manger to the outskirts. And so daily, even hourly, I'm making a conscious effort to prepare Him room in my heart.

It's what the song boils down so beautifully: let every heart prepare Him room...

Honestly, the heavy load of responsibilities that come with late December can be demotivating to me. My brain gets so crowded, so loud. What about you? Don't you feel tempted to pretend it all will disappear and zone out on some Christmas movies in the middle of the afternoon? I do.

Today I sat in the Target parking lot, anticipating the chaos, crowds, and picked-over shelves I would face through those doors, feeling anxiety creep in about how much time I had to grab a few things before school pick-up. And in that moment, Jesus whispered to my heart. He was there too. In the car. Beckoning me to make room for His friendship, His comfort. Reminding me that He is the Prince of Peace.

Remember, He did not stay in heaven to look down at us from afar. He is Immanuel. God WITH me. He is my heart's companion into Target, even, to calm my nerves as I find the needles in the haystack.

...IF I allow Him.

...IF I respond to His whisper with "Yes, please, be my Immanuel every step of my day." And then respond later the same way, over and over, every time my heart feels crowded.

...IF I prepare Him room in my heart and walk extra closely with Him on the crazy days.

Try it. Let's not allow Him to get crowded out of our hearts this week. If we do, we will miss Him. I feel like making room in our hearts for Jesus, in late December, takes a fierceness. (But we have that, right?) And walking closely with Him is not one more box to check off. It's a quiet, frequent acknowledgement, a humble submission, and a refusal to let Him be marginalized.   

That little baby in the nativity scene...He's so real, so alive. Above all, I want my kids to know this: Jesus is not simply a historical figure or a character in a picture book we all love to talk about. He is as real as these words on a page.

And we need Him, so much more than anything we might unwrap.

Praying grace over you, friends, and that you'd find some cozy space in your heart today for the Prince of Peace.