The Joy of Belieiving

I taught a Christmas lesson to the YW in our ward on Sunday & I just wanted to share a thought from the lesson that has really stuck with me.

I used most it from Ardeth G. Kapp's book The Joy of Believing. So good by the way; love it~

"In celebrating the event of the birth of our Savior, there are many pageants, plays, & performances. Having taught elementary school for a number of years, I can personally give account of a varied number of Joseph's and Marys, old bathrobes tucked up & tied around little bodies to give some resemblance to shepherds and angels with tinsel halos made form coat hangers mounted in such a way as to keep the halos attached to the heads of the constantly moving little angels. You could always tell the wise men from the shepherds because they carried oddly shaped boxes adorned with jewels brought from home. Faithful parents would come: fathers in business suits looking as if they may have just slipped out form some large business meeting and mothers and grandmothers sitting on little chairs far too small for comfort.

"As a teacher, I would take my place midway between the performers and the audience. I never did quite determine where the greater performance was taking place. Was it on the makeshift stage or in the audience, where each pair of radiant eyes was riveted on performers as though each one were doing a solo number?

"Perhaps you are familiar with the story of the school pageant where the little innkeeper hesitated and the prompter whispered his lines from the wings: "There is no room. Be gone." The young innkeeper repeated the words. The young actor playing Joseph sadly placed his arm around Mary, and , according to the script and the rehearsal, the two little people who had rehearsed their lines so well started to move away. Suddenly this Christmas pageant became different from any other. "Don't go, Joseph!" the innkeeper cried out. Bring Mary back. She can have my room."

Contrary to the historical account of this event, in this pageant there was room in the inn. The room was In the innkeeper's room; it was inn his heart. The question we each must ask ourselves in our overcrowded lives is this: is there room in our inns? Will we take the Savior into our lives, into our hearts, into our very souls, so that /he becomes the center of our lives?

"Sometimes we wonder if we like the innkeeper, would call, "Come back, come back. You can have my room. My heart. My time. My life. My vote. i give it all. All that I have. All that I am. All that I ever hope to be."

This is my hope for all this Christmas season & the whole year through that we will make more room in our hearts & lives for our Savior, Jesus Christ.