The Booger Room

There's a pop song I enjoy called, "When You Love Someone"1.   One of the lines from it goes like this:  "...when you love someone you open up your heart.  When you love someone you make room".

Isn't that true?  We make room for them in our schedules, in our conversations, with our acts of service.  We make room by sharing words with them that build them up, not tear them down.  We make room by helping them in their time of extreme need, by praying for them, by sharing physical love - - hugs or whatever is appropriate to the relationship.

We go through our lives constantly shifting the rooms in our hearts, to share the love of Jesus with the loved ones in our lives.  Often this is reflected in our houses too.

Next week something momentous is scheduled to happen in our family of four.  Both of our sons are to graduate from college.  One has not "lived at home" since he entered college; the other has lived at home his entire time in college.  Well, about a month from now, our home will contain just my husband and me and Charlie, the dog.  I have these plans to rearrange the half-story of our home which was formerly our sons' abode - - repaint, re-carpet, and most importantly .... send their stuff with them, to wherever they choose to take up residence next!  LOL! 
In all seriousness, though, I'm kind of freaking out....

The thing is that, although I'll re-arrange rooms in our home and change my cooking habits, the rooms in my heart for my sons will still be there for them, always.  My prayers have followed them all their lives and will continue to do so as long as God gives me breath.  Our relationships with each other will continue to grow and change, certainly.  But, there will always be a special place in my heart for them, as only a mother can love her sons.

Today, I had the privilege of touring the new home of my sister-in-law.  She is in the process of readying it for her move next month.  It was fun to hear her talk about the various rooms.  Each one had its merits and purposes, but some of them she rhapsodized over more than others.  It was clear certain rooms are already her favorites.

Our hearts are like that,  in our relationships with others.  To some of our acquaintances, friends and loved ones, we allocate the most beautiful rooms in our hearts. If you ask us, we will tell you they are there!  We know where they are in our hearts.
To others, we assign only a tiny corner. 
To some folks we know, we lock our hearts' doors entirely.

What about Jesus, whose first coming we began to celebrate today?

My pastor never ceases to amaze me with his preaching.  In today's sermon from Isaiah 6, he talked about how preaching of the Word of God never leaves hearers neutral.  God's Word never accomplishes nothing.  Here's the kicker:  it either accomplishes the purpose of softening the hearer's heart and drawing him/her closer to God.  Or, it hardens the hearer's heart against God, with result of the person moving farther away.

In the latter case, those who encounter Jesus during the Advent season relegate Him to the unfinished storeroom in the basement, as opposed to giving Him the room in the home with the best features or views.

In my mother's home, there's this inglorious little room in the basement we affectionately call "the booger room".  I have NO idea how it got this name!  Needless to say, it is not a place anyone wants to stay for very long.  You simply go in there to get something you have tossed aside earlier and then use that item for your purposes.  Afterwards, guess what?   Yep, back it goes, to "the booger room". Folks who put Jesus in the booger room of their hearts have to go search for him when there's a crisis.  After they are done with Him, they toss Him back in there.

When Jesus left Heaven's glory to come to Earth as a baby, what a "booger room" to which He came! A sin-stricken, evil-infested planet, thoroughly enslaved by the sin curse Adam and Eve's actions placed on the Earth and on all of their descendants.  He came to our human race's "booger room" so that, through his death, burial and resurrection, we could be eternally saved from there.  And, you know what?  He was born in a booger room.  Yep, well, a stable with the pervasive smells of hay and manure in abundance.  Actually, this was worse than a booger room....

In this season, I am challenged to continually ask myself that question:  where have I made room in my heart for Jesus?  Have I given Him the "throne room"?  I know that is where He should be, but, in all honesty and to my shame, His Holy Spirit is often shoved down the stairs to a less glorious place.

May all we who know Jesus as Savior seek with all our hearts this Advent season and every season to keep Him out of "the booger room" of our hearts and lives!  He deserves the throne, at all times.

1 Thou didst leave Thy throne and Thy kingly crown,
When Thou camest to earth for me;
But in Bethlehem's home was there found no room
For Thy holy nativity.
O come to my heart, Lord Jesus,
There is room in my heart for Thee.

2 Heaven's arches rang when the angels sang,
Proclaiming Thy royal degree;
But of lowly birth didst Thou come to earth,
And in great humility.
O come to my heart, Lord Jesus,
There is room in my heart for Thee.

4 Thou camest, O Lord, with the living word
That should set Thy people free;
But with mocking scorn, and with crown of thorn,
They bore Thee to Calvary.
O come to my heart, Lord Jesus,
There is room in my heart for Thee.

5 When the heavens shall ring, and the angels sing,
At Thy coming to victory,
Let Thy voice call me home, saying "Yet there is room,
There is room at My side for thee."
My heart shall rejoice, Lord Jesus, 
When Thou comest and callest for me.2

Sources:

1     https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dN44xpHjNxE&list=RDdN44xpHjNxE&start_radio=1

2     https://hymnary.org/text/thou_didst_leave_thy_throne_and_thy_king