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There is a children’s story about a shopkeeper who dreamed one night that Jesus would visit him the next day.  The dream was so real that the shopkeeper believed it was really going to happen.  He got up the next morning fully expecting Jesus to visit him that day in his shop.

When he arrived at work, the first item of business was to put the place in order, to clean up, pick up, fix up.  Everything had to be spic and span for the Lord’s visit.  So, he put his salesclerk to work with a broom and a dust cloth.  The clerk understood and went immediately to work, but she had a request.  Her mother, who was elderly, had been seriously ill, and she wondered if after awhile, when everything was clean, he could close the shop for about a half hour and drive her to the other side of town to check on her mother. 

The shopkeeper was really sorry that his clerk’s mother was so ill, and he would like to help, but not today.  There was just too much to do.   

They worked through the morning, splitting time between cleaning up the shop and waiting on the    customers.  Every time the front door opened, the owner would glance eagerly in that direction, but each time he was disappointed.  It was not Jesus.

Around noon, an old man wandered in from off the street.  His clothes were ragged and dirty.  His hair was disheveled.  He explained that he had not eaten in several days and wanted to know if he could have money to buy some food.  The shopkeeper impatiently handed him a dollar and hurried him out the door.  Certainly, he did not want that smelly old man to be there when Jesus arrived.

The afternoon passed as uneventfully as the morning.  Finally, it was closing time.  The salesclerk left for the day.  The customers stopped coming.  The streets were empty, and still Jesus had not come.

After dinner, the shopkeeper picked up his Bible and sat down to read.  By chance he turned to Matthew’s Gospel, the 25th chapter, and his eyes fell on these words: “The King will say to those on His right hand: ‘Come, you blessed by Father, inherit the Kingdom prepared for you.  For I was hungry, and you gave me food.  I was thirsty and you gave me drink.  I was sick and you comforted me, in prison and you visited me.’  Then the just will ask him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you or thirsty and give you drink?  When did we clothe you in your nakedness?  When did we visit you when you were in prison?’  The King will answer him: ‘As often as you did it for one of my least brothers, you did it for me.’”

Then the shopkeeper knew that his dream had come true.  Jesus had visited his shop that day, and he had missed it. 

Jesus has come, Jesus is here, and Jesus will come again.  But let’s not look for His physical coming and miss His daily visits in our lives. 

How many opportunities have you lost this week to serve the Lord in your dealings with other people?  Let Him not catch us unaware of His presence in our midst.

A Blessed Christmas to you and your family!