A Tale From The Inn . . .

a Christmas Story
by Roger Lynn
December 24, 2015
(click here for the audio for this story)

It was a crazy day. In truth, it had been a crazy month. Ever since that fool of an emperor announced his foolish edict about undertaking a census, with everyone being required to return to their ancestral home. I mean really - have you ever heard such an ill-conceived plan in your life? Oh don’t get me wrong. Financially it was certainly good for me. Running an inn meant that I had a steady stream of customers for weeks. A flood would perhaps be a more accurate description. They just kept coming. The rooms filled up and tempers grew short. People needed a place to stay and I could only accommodate so many of them. I don’t think I’ve ever turned away so many people in my life. But what was I supposed to do? I’m not a magician. I can’t simply conjure rooms out of thin air. But I’m not a heartless villain either (despite what you may have heard). I saw the suffering this whole thing caused. People’s lives turned upside down. I did what I could do, but there was so much more that was left undone.

So it was that they came through my doors. Of course I remember them. Even amid the throng of people in that harried time I could never forget those two, and the events they ushered into my life. He was a rough-around-the-edges working man - you could tell just by looking at his hands. But there was a gentleness about him as well. She was young, and so very heavy with child. I remember thinking how vulnerable they both looked. It was late in the day and they had obviously been traveling all day and more. She looked to be at the edge of exhaustion, and all he could manage to do was to hover close to her in that protective way young husbands do.

Yes, the stories you’ve heard are accurate. I told them there was no room for them in the inn. But I only told them what really was true. I had already packed as many people as seemed humanly possible into every nook and cranny of my inn. No one was comfortable. No one was happy. And there simply was no more space available. But I couldn’t just turn them away. As I said, I’m not a heartless man. So I told them they could spend the night in the stable. It wasn’t much, but at least it was out of the wind. I made sure the stable boy put out fresh straw. And I sent out a couple of blankets. And I gave them the few scraps of food that were left in the kitchen. I did what I could.

And then I got busy again. There is always something to do and not nearly enough time to do it all. I got busy, and, quite frankly, I forgot about the young couple in the stable. I forgot, that is, until the man came rushing in with fear and panic written all over his face. His wife’s time had come, and he didn’t know what to do. Well, I didn’t know what to do either, but I did know who would. I called my wife, who had helped with many of the births in our village. I will spare you the words and the withering look she gave me for not telling her earlier about a pregnant woman in our stable. She rushed out the door with instructions for clean towels and water.

Later, in spite of the demands of a busy inn that kept me running well into the night, I decided to slow down long enough to check in on our guests in the stable. What I found changed my life forever. A calm had fallen over the stable. The cries of a woman in labor gave way to the cries of new life. I’m not a sentimental man, but even I could sense that something extraordinary had happened. It really is a miracle - this business of birth. There she was, the mother - exhausted beyond all description, and yet glowing with a radiance I will never forget. And the baby! To look into that tiny face was to look into the face of God.

Something holy took place that night, right there in my stable. And I almost missed it. It would have been so easy to miss. The customers, and the never ending stream of jobs constantly demanding my attention. And it wasn’t at all what I would have looked for if I’d gone looking for something holy. It was just a poor couple having a baby - in my stable no less! Most people in town didn’t even know they were there. Most people in my inn didn’t even know they were there. I almost missed it. And I thank God every day that I didn’t. Now I find myself wondering where I will discover something holy today. What might I miss if I forget to pay attention? What miracle of God is just waiting to change my life forever? It can happen! I know, because ever since that night it happens to me all the time.