Make Room

First published December 24, 2015

As the last month of the year comes to a close, the length of to-do lists somehow stretch out longer than before. More and more, I think we walk through every season this way. We rush from one appointment to the next. We face-time instead of making time to face each other. There is always one more thing to do that never gets done. We continue to set the bar for what needs to be accomplished higher and higher. We seek to do good work, and somehow get lost in the busyness of it, instead of the heart behind it.

And let's not forget the expectations. They get placed on us by those all around us. We place them on ourselves, too. And we carry hurt around when something or someone makes us feel like we're not enough. If we're being honest, there are no shortage of situations to make us feel like we didn't do enough, or we didn't bring enough to the table. You can fill in the blank with any adjective - smart, funny, attractive, educated - and there will come a point in time when that part of you isn't enough.

But while the world tells us to make more of ourselves, God asks us to just make room.

Jesus exchanged all the majesty of heaven for a tiny, messy manger. That should tell you what he thinks of expectations. There was no room anywhere else. This was not an ideal plan, nor would it be anyone's first choice. No one prepared the manger. No one worked hard to clean it or make it look nice - it's where the cows slept. Mary and Joseph were poor and uneducated. No 401k plan. No 10-year vision for their lives.

They had nothing but the clothes on their backs and room in their hearts.

Don't miss out on what God wants you to see: things were far from perfect, and yet He still came. He does the same for us because we are His first choice. When you're weary from the season, or when a season of weariness becomes your life, let the manger stand as a reminder that God has come for you, and not for any of the words that may describe you.

You just need to make Him room.

With God, things tend to be simpler than we allow ourselves to believe. John 6:29 tells us that the work God asks of us is this: believe in the one He sent.

That's it.

Philippians 1:6 says that He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus. Isaiah 9:4 references the God who "shatters the yoke that burdens them."

In all these instances, it's God doing all the work, not us. We didn't reach for Him in the beginning; He came down to meet us. All the way down. Can you think of anything lower for a king than being born where the animals are kept? He was born into a mess - the mess of a manger and the mess of a broken world. When we accept Him, He dwells with us in the messiness of our individual lives. He comes alongside us to help us become who we are meant to be. Starting right where we are. And because He initiates this, He promises to stay with us and finish what He's started in us.

This is love.

If you struggle with feeling the weight of expectations this time of year, or anytime, just remember that someone must have thought the world of you to come as far as He did to be with you. He promises to never leave you, and He will always finish what He started in you. You don't need to bring anything, or be anyone. He already thinks you're enough.

All you have to do is make Him room.

The people walking in darkness have seen a great light. - Isaiah 9:2