One of My Favorite Books

 I wasn't looking forward to Christmas this year as much as I have in previous years. Whether or not others believe there is a pandemic surging, I believe there is, and so my heart is hurting. The fact that I even have to clarify that is even sadder. Our choice to not gather together as a family was based on our belief that the spread of Covid is life-threatening to our elderly especially, and because being able to take care of our parents is important to us, we gave that up. Some people are overseas protecting our country, serving a mission, in the hospital, or in heaven for Christmas. We were at least thankful that we are all still here and healthy, and our family all agrees that it was out of love for each other that we made those hard choices this year. God will reward us for our sacrifices that we make out of love. 

In my quest for Christmas peace, I pulled out one of my favorite Christmas books of all time, "Seven Stories of Christmas Love", by Leo Buscaglia. Dr. Leo Buscaglia was an internationally known teacher, writer, and lecturer. His favorite topic was happiness and love. His life's work was teaching others how to love and encouraging others to go out in the world and love and care for others. However, I knew none of this when I picked this book up at a garage sale about 30 years ago.  I wish I could remember why I chose this book, but what I remember most about that time in my life was that I wanted to BE loved more and I loved the way I felt when I read this book. It inspired me and made me want to be more like the author. He had some kind of magic for sure. It's no wonder that his classes of 200 had waiting lists of 600. Everyone wanted what he had! It is a gifted person who loves in this way and knows how to share that with the world. 

As the book title gives away, there are seven stories in this book, but one really stands out to me. It begins with a quote,

 "In the inn of the world, there is room for everyone. To refuse entry to anyone, for whatever reason, is to risk an irreparable loss."  

To give you just a little history, Leo was born of Italian Catholic parents who immigrated from Italy to Los Angeles. He grew up in a blended neighborhood of first generation immigrants- Jewish, Italian, German, and Mexican. Few spoke English, most had large families, and many were poor. His next door neighbors were Jewish and after an awkward dinner of ravioli and kosher food (another great story!), the families became best friends for over 40 years. This took place in the 50's, and I was so surprised at the love and acceptance between these two very differing families and their customs. It was enlightening, beautiful, and maybe I cried, maybe it was the onions I was eating in bed.  Seriously, go to www.thriftbooks.com and get a copy of this book. He has many other inspiring books too. 

The story is called "No Room at the Inn".  Leo took a trip to Bali at Christmas time, and because this is one of the longer stories in the book, I will attempt to paraphrase (yes, me). As the young Balinese man showed him to his cottage, Leo mentioned that it was the day before Christmas. The young man had never heard of Christmas or Christianity for that matter, so Leo told him the story as they walked through the rain forest on the way to the cottage. The first question the man (Ratab) asked was, "But why would not the people allow Mary and Joseph to share their bed?" Leo explained that Mary and Joseph didn't know anyone, but that didn't seem to make any difference to Ratab. He insisted someone should have made room for them in their bed. Leo went on, "But they didn't know that Mary was to give birth to their God, Jesus." Again, Ratab insisted, "That is not important. If Mary was traveling, if she was going to have a baby, what matter if it were a god or not? They should have given her a place to rest." 

As the beautiful story goes on, Leo is given many more opportunities to tell the story of Jesus to the children and they were intent on every word. One night as he came back to his cottage, he was surprised by a decorated banana tree trimmed into the shape of a pine tree, lit by oil lamps. This village had been so taken by his Christmas story and wanted to give his Christmas to him. Leo was overcome with this showing of  love and he and Ratab were both in tears. He is given more opportunities to tell the Christmas story to the natives, and Ratab explains that many of the guests had asked for the honor of staying overnight. 

Ratab explained this concept of love:  "When you have made a new friend, it is bad manners to leave him." So six guests (mostly children) piled in the bed with Leo, putting him in the middle, basically cuddling him like a child would cuddle his father! Ratab also climbed in the bed, and the last thing he said to him was, "I still don't understand why they could not make room for Mary." I admit by this time I was pretty teary-eyed and made that audible "awwww" sound that makes my dog wonder what cute animal I've seen through the window. 

I have never thought of this before young Ratab made me stop and wonder this very thing! Who are we turning away because we think we don't "have room"? What foreign story are we shunning because it's too difficult for us to understand? What neighbor are we missing out on because we're so worried that they are "different" from us?  Love expands us. Hate and indifference keep  us small. You don't need me to tell you that. You'll be able to tell by the way it makes you feel. 

Blessings!