A long time ago some children said, ―Let’s put on a play! They had done this quite often and so, after a lengthy debate, they decided to reenact Mary and Josef’s plight in Bethlehem, the time when there was no room in the inn.

The scenario was rather strict, it had to follow the biblical story exactly, and the young actors and actresses were well rehearsed and knew their lines correctly. And then the day of the performance came:

Mary and Josef knocked at the door of the inn. The tousled-haired innkeeper in his checkered apron opened the door. He glared at the couple, and in quite an angry and impolite tone told them, ―There is no room in the inn. But when tender and kind Mary breathlessly whispered, ―We are so very exhausted and so close to the time for our baby to be born, the young innkeeper’s tender soul and loving heart became so deeply stirred that it rendered him very quiet; he could not say a word for a while.

The prompter whispered the next line, ―all the rooms are rented out, none is left, there is no room in the inn! Still no sound from the young actor. Twice more the prompter urged: ―all the rooms are rented out, none is left . . . But now, although knowing his rehearsed lines well, the little innkeeper stepped resolutely forward and said in a loud voice for everybody to hear, ― “I know exactly what I am supposed to say, but could those two not sleep in my bedroom?”

“But Jesus called the children to Him and said, “Let the little children come to Me, and do not hinder them, the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. I tell you the truth, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it” ~~ Luke 18:16-17

~~ Translated from the German by Helga