Mindful Monday: No Room

Mindful Monday: On Monday's I'm going to share what's been on my mind. I by no means have any of this figured out, I'm just thinking out loud here.

It always amazes me what can catch my attention.  One little phrase and bam, just like that, it feels like I've been punched in the stomach.  But there's a lesson in it all, oh yes, a lesson indeed.

Perhaps I should start at the beginning.  The kids' Christmas program at church this Sunday was a play about a little boy who desperately wanted a part, any part, in the Christmas program.  The other kids teased him and everyone told him he wasn't any good.  The story was fairly predictable and I felt sorry for the little guy.  And then came the phrase that hit home.  He just finished his audition and the director said 'don't even bother calling us, we'll call you if we have a part for you.'  All of a sudden I was the little boy, searching for a real life job not just a part in a play.

Over and over the little boy is rejected, unwanted and unneeded.  He ends up as the understudy for the innkeeper  and his only line is, "no room."  He repeats his line over and over, "no room..no room...no room."  Suddenly he sees the Christmas story in a new light.  Just as the other kids seem to have no room for him, the world made no room for Jesus.

He came plain and ordinary, born in a stable with animals because there was no room at the inn.  Throughout his life he was rejected by many, not seen as the star of the show.
"He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him. He was despised and rejected by mankind, a man of suffering, and familiar with pain. Like one from whom people hide their faces he was despised, and we held him in low esteem." -Isaiah 53:2-3
Life is full of rejection, as kids and adults.  But in every circumstance, He knows how we feel.  When it feels like there is no room or you just don't fit in, he understands.  He's been there too.

It's been almost one year since I graduated from college and I still haven't found 'room'.  I'll admit that as the one year mark approaches, I've been seeing more shadow in all of the 'no room' responses.  It would be easy to get stuck there, feeling sorry for myself, but I know I've grown so much in this past year.  I'm seeing each 'no room' experience as a gentle reminder.  I trust God knows best, and I don't want to push him out or tell him there's no room.  I must be mindful to make room for Jesus, not only this Christmas but each and every day.

Food for Thought: "Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight." -Proverbs 3:5-6