Look with me for just awhile
at a place called “The Crowded Inn” . . .
You may not recognize it as
somewhere you have been ~

Does nothing look familiar
stir some forgotten memory . . .
Well, I’m not surprised, we soon forget
it was the same with me ~

The door so slowly opens
a voice sounding just like doom . . .
Shatters the heavy silence
shouting . . . "THERE IS NO ROOM" ~

Suddenly my memory’s illumined
with scenes of Christ’s Nativity . . .
Times without end the same words said
except they were spoken by me ~

I sent Him away to the stable
too busy to make Him a bed . . .
Crowded, oh yes, “The Crowded Inn”
“NO ROOM”, were the words I said ~

But for His grace and mercy
“NO ROOM” would still be my refrain . . .
His LOVE gave me a manger heart
let me now, dear ones, explain ~

“The Crowded Inn” today, as then,
repeats those words of doom . . .
Stubborn~willed they close the door
and scream, THERE IS NO ROOM ~

Crowded hearts, the poorer you,
to send away this King . . .
You fail to recognize Him still,
“NO ROOM ~ NO ROOM” ~ you sing ~

Your hollow laughter can’t disguise
empty rooms of pain within . . .
Proclaiming fullness, they are bare
SELF is THE CROWDED INN ~

Will you forget so easily
‘twas to you at first He came . . .
To birth His Kingdom in your hearts
share with you His Holy name ~

Must He now turn away, as then,
still grieving, as with them . . .
For only lowly manger hearts
know how to welcome Him ~

In Manger Hearts He feels at home
SELF has been displaced . . .
Immanuel fills every room
with LOVE, fear is erased ~

The truth, if we’ll accept it
each MANGER HEART must tell . . .
The Crowded Inn, we all once were
self reigned in us, as well ~

There’s but one difference we know
at last SELF lost the race . . .
Hunger changed The Crowded Inn
to A MANGER HEART, by GRACE!

Mary Carter Mizrany
written December 5, 1986
Revised December 7, 2004
Copyrighted. All rights reserved.

Sweet Memories At Christmas