Why I Admire the Innkeeper: Saying Yes in a Mess

mel96066
Dec 18, 2025
2 min read

Updated: Dec 20, 2025

I'm reading Scripture and am once again caught by the Innkeeper.

He essentially offered tent camping to the Ritz-Carlton of his time for the birth of the Savior. What was he like? This we don't know but at face value the obvious is that he was busy with no guest rooms to be had.

However, "no room" in the pretty spaces didn't stop this man from offering place. Rather, he extended the smelly, manure-laden, cramped quarters amongst his animals for delivery. Messy space now made pretty stable displays this time of year.

None of this took our God by surprise - He wrote the story - but in my humanity, it does me. When my house looks less than orderly I'm much less likely to want guests. There is an element of pride that I imagine has been instinctive since the beginning of time. Especially in the face of a woman about to give birth. I imagine even more so.

Still, the Innkeeper said yes in his mess.

We all know how the rest of the story played out. Jesus was born in the midst of the ick and darkness and laid in the hay. What has been viewed as the Innkeeper missing Christmas has become the saving grace we cling to.

God used this element of the story to remind us that He meets us in our mess. There is no life circumstance or hurt in which he will not dwell among us or give us hope.

Praise be, say we who live anything but easy, sterile, pristine lives.

May the Innkeeper inspire us.

Sometimes people approach us and our hearts don't have the pretty guest room to offer. The reality of our lives looks much more like the messy stable.

How will we respond? Will we turn meaningful time and conversation away for fear of what people might see? Or, will we say yes in our mess because vulnerability is where life-changing moments and hope are born?

The Innkeeper reminds us that place always trumps perfection. For Immanuel - God with us - is found there.

Who might you invite in?

Have a blessed Christmas!

xx Melissa