No Room, No Room

^"and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn." (Luke 2:7)

I watched some children performed a musical yesterday. The play has a story within a story. A boy named LEON was the main character. In the beginning, Leon and other kids eagerly tried out for parts in a Christmas pageant. As the story went, everyone else was chosen but Leon did not have a part. You could imagine Leon's disappointment. Eventually, he was asked to be the understudy of the innkeeper with "No room, no room" as his own line.

With a twist of fate, Leon had to act on performance night and a miracle happened: Leon saw Joseph and the very pregnant Mary and had compassion on them. Instead of his rehearsed line, he burst out, "Wait, there is a room. You can have my room."

Many parents want their children to have moral characters, e.g. to be considerate, loving, respectful, polite, etc., especially towards parents and siblings. However, our world also promotes fierce competition and admires superstars. There is nothing wrong about our kids being the best they could be, but we have to look beyond their performance and popularity to love and treasure them as human beings.

LEON spelled backward is NOEL, which means Christmas. In the play, Leon learned the true meaning of Christmas. He demonstrated selfless love and compassion!

Copyright © 2005 Parenting ABC