Crowded Out

Two questions have jumped out at me this year.

"Are you Ready for Christmas?"

and

"Will we have a good Christmas?"

I understand the first to ask -

is your shopping done?

are the Christmas cards in the mail?

how is the baking coming?

and yet it strikes me that Jesus is missing in the question.

I should always be ready to remember and celebrate Christ's birth.

The second question is more disheartening.

The context usually explains this question as ...

Will I get what I want?

Will there be a lot of Christmas presents?

Christ is again missing.

Reminds me of this hymn:

Crowded Out

by C.H. Morris

Is Christ crowded out of your busy life

With the toiling that each day brings?

With the strain and stress of the cares that press

You've no time for the King of kings.

"No room in the inn" for the Christ-Child blest,

"In a manger so low He lay;"

In the hearts of men o'er and o'er again,

There's no room for Him still today.

"The foxes have holes and the birds have nests,

But nowhere for His head divine.

had the Son of man", should He come again

Find a place in your heart and mine?

The hearts of the ones whom He died to save

Is the home which He seeks today;

By His life bought yet He is crowded out,

And "away with Him", still they say.

Refrain:

Crowded out!

Crowded out!

You've no time for His service, you say;

While for pleasure and business you always have time,

Is Christ crowded out today?