No Room

Christmas time can be a really busy time of the year. Everybody has all their normal busyness but then Christmas and Thanksgiving bring new layers of it that can be quite crippling, especially for our faith.

I was volunteering at a local food pantry Saturday morning and witnessed something I had never seen before. Someone came in looking for some food. They had no money for the "required donation."

The lady was told she could not proceed to get food without the $20. And it's funny because a man had come in earlier with only $10 of the required $20 HE needed and somehow we found $10 for him. Why was this lady turned away?

That got me thinking. It shouldn't be that way, that people are turned away at a church with food. Especially at Christmas time! I'm not picking on the church or the food pantry here. I am picking on myself and my inability to act. Why didn't I have $20 in my pocket? Why didn't I follow the lady out the door and offer to buy her some food?

Reading through Luke 11 Saturday night, I found a story where Jesus was talking with His disciples about giving and asking. He spoke about how God is ALWAYS willing to give His children what they need. But they DO have to ask.

Should it be any different for His children? Us? I don't think so. Was I too busy "volunteering" so I couldn't make room for a family without food? Here, read this from Luke 11.

"Then Jesus said to them, “Suppose you have a friend, and you go to him at midnight and say, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves of bread; 6 a friend of mine on a journey has come to me, and I have no food to offer him.’ 7 And suppose the one inside answers, ‘Don’t bother me. The door is already locked, and my children and I are in bed. I can’t get up and give you anything.’ 8 I tell you, even though he will not get up and give you the bread because of friendship, yet because of your shameless audacity he will surely get up and give you as much as you need.

9 “So I say to you: Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. 10 For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened." - Luke 11:5-10

Someone asked for bread yet they were never given any. That's wrong. This is Christmas!! It is a time for giving, not a time of receiving. This poor soul is going to have $20 in his pocket from now one. And it's going to get used!

When Jesus was born there was no room for Him. Who of us would not open the door to Mary and Joseph on a cold winter's night? Far too many I fear. Let it not be us. Let us open the door of our hearts to Jesus and love like HE loved.

People Help The People - Birdy