If you have ever traveled for a long period of time, you know how important it is to find a place to rest when night falls. On a summer road trip with a friend a couple years ago, one of the highlights was being gifted the opportunity to stay in a five star, luxury hotel. I wanted to hug every staff member, guest, and wall because I was so blissfully happy. We had complimentary valet parking, a view of the city, a lavish room with all the amenities and charms, fruit infused water, and other normally unnecessary features. We were living large to say the least.

This stay was not the usual though. Along my journeys I have checked into some spaces that had me questioning the human race and security of those particular cities. It was less than perfect and nowhere—under any circumstances—were these places you’d imagine someone noble being born.

Picture yourself for a moment back in Bible times. The dust is settling and the markets are closing for the day. The livestock has been fed and your family is finally beginning to relax. All is right in your world. But there is one couple, exhausted as they are, traveling with tunnel vision on the brightest star in the sky. Can you fathom sweet Mary’s disposition that evening as everything was seemingly going wrong?

I have felt uncomfortable in a car, yet this woman rode for days on a donkey, carrying a promise the world had been long anticipating. A king, the King ,was about to be born, but they couldn’t find any place to welcome Him. They trailed behind one star that seemed to lead nowhere, yet they still obeyed. Soon, the first one-star hotel became the birthplace of Love.

Recently I was reflecting on Christmas and all the season entails. People haste toward it, save for it, and plan for it. Families come together, kindness seems to spread a little faster, music fills the air, and hometowns are richly painted red and green. Millions of twinkling lights shine as bright as the children’s eyes when they stand in front of a toy store. It really is the most wonderful time of the year.

I began to think about one of my absolute favorite aspects of this holiday and how it all began. Love. Love is where the story began to be penned. Love is what caused a perfect Savior to be born into this world on one cold night in Bethlehem.

God chose that stable, that manger, that scene with purpose. Love made room for Himself in the most unlikely of places because that is what Love does. It reaches into what is dirty and broken. It fits itself into spaces that aren’t always appealing. It enters into the places others are afraid to walk through. Love knows no boundaries or limits because Love doesn’t need them. If you are poor, Love is for you. If you are rich, Love is there too. If you feel unwanted, He was both born and put to death in places no one else wanted to go—all for you. He was there before the worlds were formed. He thought of you long before you came into being. Love came down in the form of a child and has been pouring Himself out ever since.

“Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love. In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him” (I John 4:8-9).

God is Love. That is Christmas. He is the reason we celebrate.

He didn’t come drawing attention to Himself or by normal standards of royalty. Love chose a common place to enter because Love is for everyone. It doesn’t matter where you find yourself or where you’ve been. I can promise you, Love has been there and will remain there waiting for you.

“Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends…” (I Corinthians 13:4-7).

Think about how much of an impact this concept, this Savior, could have on the world if the world only went back to the manger to recall how significant His birth was and still is. He was brought into the implausible places. He entered into palaces and walked along dirty streets. There remains no place He will not venture. He possesses the title of King, yet He took on the form of a servant. Oh, what an impression this could make if we realized how powerful, how magnificent, and how accessible Love is.

This Christmas take some time to remember the night Love was born and how wonderfully attainable and present that gift will always be.

Rachel Thorne was born in Florida and has lived in many places throughout the United States. She is a graduate of Urshan College, formerly known as Gateway College of Evangelism. She wants to make a difference and change her world. Rachel is actively seeking the will of God for her life and is willing to do whatever He has for her.