Be Born In Me

As we near Christmas our family is getting ready to travel "over the river and through the woods" to my wife's father's house - an assisted living unit tow and a half hours away. The winter scenes we see along the way do not resemble a Courier and Ives scene in the least. The "city streets" no longer resemble paintings. Rather, they look more like something out of Badlands.

My daughter tries to get us into the Christmas spirit by creating games for us to play along the way and song CD's to listen to as well. This Christmas we are making CD's of our favorite Christmas songs to play for one another when we arrive.

While looking for new Christmas music this year I found a beautiful song that made me stop and think for a moment. Stopping and thinking is where I get most of my stories for this blog from. Before I tell you about the song though, let's set the stage by reading part of the Christmas story found in Luke 2.

"7 And she brought forth her firstborn Son, and wrapped Him in swaddling cloths, and laid Him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn." - Luke 2:7

"No room for them in the inn."

I heard someone speak once about the similarities between "the inn" and our hearts. They asked, "Do WE have room for Jesus in our hearts? Or do we turn Jesus away because our hearts are already full of other things?"

Ouch.

The name of that song I found is Be Born In Me. It really spoke to me about the closed hearts we tend to have these days - filled to the brim with narcissistic Christmas lists, selfies with Santa and the latest Star Wars movie. That ain't what Christmas is about, Charlie Brown."

The song was probably written about Mary asking Jesus to be "born in me" but I think it really goes deeper than that. It really should be an invitation from each of us to our Lord and Savior to enter OUR hearts that we might be born again IN HIM - receiving His Holy Spirit IN US.

Let that be our prayer this Christmas, that each person in our lives who does not know Christ asks Jesus to enter into their hearts, to change us from the inside out, and create in us a new heart. It is only through surrendering our will that allows Him to enter in.

Some people are too filled with pride to "surrender" to anything. For them this song has no meaning. But to me this songs speaks of that desire that ALL believers have - to allow Jesus to take the controls as we surrender ourselves to Him.

Dear Jesus . . . be born in me today. I have tried to live a good enough life on my own that you might think me worthy, but I have failed. I fail everyday. I surrender my life to you Lord. Please, Lord, make me new this Christmas. Be born in me, Lord. Amen.

Be Born In Me -Francesca Battistelli