I don’t like to move. In the 37 years of my married life, we have only owned three houses. I have heard it said that in women’s dreams, houses are symbolic of their lives. It is true in my case. A nightmare, for me, is dreaming my house is falling apart, stairs collapsing from dry rot, and alligators swimming in the bathtub!

Our first home was a Victorian farmhouse, complete with claw foot tub and bedrooms with dormer ceilings. I had to battle the constant threat of termites and leaky ceilings, but I loved each room. I had a sun room, a sewing room, a front porch, and a detached garage, which we enclosed for Greg to have a quiet place to study.

In our current home, we have one “spare” room. Originally, it was Jonathan’s, when we moved here 12 years ago. It was filled with Star Wars figures, video games, surfboards, and skateboards. Then, when Christopher moved out on his own and Jonathan moved into his old room (a bit further down the hall from ours) it became our guest room. It was tidy, minimal. No more toys. Instead we had a comfy queen-size bed with fluffy pillows, an end table, and a reading lamp. Today, the room is taken over by four little girls. Greg has stocked it with doll houses, fairy castles, a child-size table and chairs, and a miniature pink kitchen complete with sink, oven, and refrigerator. The closet is full of fancy pink dresses, Disney princesses, costume jewelry, and too many baby dolls to count. So much for minimalism!

I love how each phase of life has dictated the use of this room: a small boy’s room, a restful guest room, and now a play room for four little girls. In each phase, the room has spoken volumes about its purpose and the people who occupied it.

I wonder about the rooms in my heart. I wonder about the room in the center of my heart. Is there a room you have prepared for Jesus? A place of honor reserved only for Him, with nothing to crowd or clutter?

What makes it His? It is full of His words. It rings with Scripture. The sound of His voice echoes down the hallways of my heart: comforting, correcting, exhorting.

It is full of His love and the things He loves: whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good report. There you will find virtue; there you find praise.

It is a room that will be filled with the fragrance of His love, joy, and peace.

Will you prepare Him room in your heart today? The 17th-century hymn puts it so beautifully:

“Then cleansed by every Christian breast
And furnished for so great a Guest.
Yea, let us each our hearts prepare
For Christ to come and enter there.”

Maybe you have allowed lesser things to clutter what belongs to Him. All the decorating, parties, shopping, can never replace the true meaning of Christmas this holiday season. Will you allow the Holy Spirit to examine and cleanse your heart of anything or anyone you’ve allowed to crowd the Lord Jesus from His rightful place? Or sadly, will you, like the innkeeper in Bethlehem, hang a sign that says, “No vacancy for You, King of Glory”?