Bethlehem
In the Christmas story there was “no room at the Inn” for the Holy Family. Demands and prior reservations had crowded the rooms to full capacity. Jesus was born in the shelter of the animal stable, Â and his bed was normally the feeding trough which held hay.
It wasn’t that the Innkeeper did not wish to house the family, but that there was no more room to be had for them.
This is  picture that is repeated within our hearts. We have many concerns, plans, people, troubles, obligations, and distractions filling our heart and mind. There is sometimes little room or energy left to show love. We are too busy, and we promise ourselves that we will make time for this when
- we are less busy
- we have more time and energy
- we feel more like it
- a future date
- the holidays are over
- when their birthday arrives
- next time we see them
almost any other time than now.
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How to Make Room
Thankfulness is a habit of thinking that makes space for love. It places value on the time spent with the people in our lives. It creates an attitude that allows loving thoughts to take root, gives a seedbed for actions which show a response of appreciation.
Today, can we make room for thankfulness and it’s response of love and appreciation?
First Century Bethlehem Town
In that time what was the town of Bethlehem like in the first century?
Although prophesied to be the birthplace of the Messiah in Micah 5:2-4 , it seems to have been a forgotten backwater in King Herod‘s time. It normally had about 1000, or less, inhabitants. Six miles south of Jerusalem, it is the area where Ruth gleaned the fields of Boaz, reputed to be the birthplace of King David.
Imagine this very small village population swelling with the many people who had to travel there to pay Caesar’s taxes.
The surrounding hills were the home to flocks of sheep and their shepherds.
Modern Bethlehem tableau
Carol
“O Little Town of Bethlehem”
“What Child Is This?”
