Here is today’s devotion to start your day.
Available now at Power, Love & Miracles:
Saints, Sinners, and Scandals: Shepherds by Night: The First Evangelists [PLM+]
A Prophecy that Includes Us: Joel. The Bible Unplugged podcast, episode 64
Sunset’s Dawn, Part 13- Trouble between Jake and Jen? [PLM+]
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Scripture: Luke 2:7
“She gave birth to her firstborn son. She wrapped him in bands of cloth, and laid him in a feeding trough, because there was no room for them in the inn.”
Reflection
It wasn’t a heartless hotel manager who turned Mary away. It was likely family.
The word translated “inn” (kataluma) more accurately refers to a guest room—typically in the family home. In other words, there was no space left for them in the place where they should have belonged.
Bethlehem was Joseph’s ancestral town. That means Mary and Joseph were likely knocking on the doors of relatives. And no one made room.
Maybe it was because of the rumors. Maybe it was the shame of her pregnancy. Maybe it was just crowded. Whatever the reason, the Son of God was born in the section of the house where animals were kept—among hay and dung and the forgotten corners of hospitality.
That’s where Jesus enters: the margins.
God doesn’t force His way into our lives. He comes where He’s welcomed. And, more often than not, He shows up where we least expect—pushed aside, overlooked, but never absent.
The Christmas story is not just about celebration. It’s about displacement. God made His home among the rejected to remind us that holiness often starts in the hidden.
And the question still echoes through time: Is there room?
Centering Prayer
Holy Child of Peace,
You were born among us when we made no space. Forgive me when I fill my life so full there’s no room left for wonder. Enter anyway. Enter even here. Make holy the places I’ve ignored, and dwell with me in the most unexpected corners. – Amen
Practice for Today
Clear out a space in your schedule, your heart, or your home today—even just ten minutes—to intentionally welcome Christ into the places you’ve kept full or distracted.
Journaling Prompt
What part of my life feels too full for God to enter—and what might it look like to make room?
Blessing for the Day
Sweep aside the clutter of life.
Focus your mind away from the noise and on holy things.
Let the humble King find a cradle in your soul.
And let every closed door open at the sound of His name.
Pray As You Go
Breathe in: Make room in me…
Breathe out: … for You to dwell