My Best No

I’m a perpetual “yes” sayer.

I struggle to let no be a part of my life. It makes me feel uneasy. Unfulfilling. Unworthy. Incapable. I mean really, quite lousy at times! That’s why sometimes I need to not just give my best yes, but my best “no”.

So many opportunities come our way, don’t they? I mean not just opportunities, but GOOD opportunities! We could name countless opportunities that we could do in a given week, but is it YOUR opportunity? Your task? Your job? YOUR assignment?

Sometimes I feel the only time I say no is to our daughter and our dog! Sad, really. Why do I have a hard time saying no to anyone else? It’s for those very reasons listed above. For FEAR of feeling…(you fill in the blank).

Fear creeps in, telling us we just aren’t quite cutting it. Fear though, isn’t just this thing. It has to do with everything the devil wants us to feel. Fear tells us that something will never truly satisfy, so we seek after more. Fear tells us that true joy can only be found in more, not less. Fear tells us satisfaction can be found in our feelings and feeling fulfilled. So we keep saying yes, for fear of FOMO (fear of missing out). Hands raised, once again!

That’s me, people! I run myself ragged. One would think my heart failure would be enough to tell me to say no more, but I don’t. I don’t want to “miss the opportunity”. Anyone else relate?

But where does the prompting of the Holy Spirit come in? How many times have you felt this unexplainable “nudge” and ignoring it was just easier? Yep, me too. But the question is, was it truly from God? Maybe it was. And maybe it was fear of not doing enough. Maybe it was your desire to be everyone’s savior, instead of reflecting THE Savior.

We serve a limitless God, yet he created limits for us – it’s called the Sabbath. He created an ENTIRE day for us to say no to the pulls of this world. To say no to the opportunities that the world tells us we need to take. What a gift because he knew, he just KNEW we wouldn’t be good at saying no, am I right? Reflecting the Savior means reflecting his desires for us as his people. No is part of his vocabulary too, even though it makes us uneasy to feel so and say so. But again, just look at the very day he created for us.

So let me ask, what do you do for approval? What do you do for the wrong reasons? What do you dread, but continue saying yes to? And maybe it’s just a season of life. Whose life am I trying to live up to?

I write this post to myself. As a pep talk to myself, so that I too, won’t live in fear, but be okay with being a no sayer at times. Every opportunity doesn’t have to be YOUR opportunity, my friend! Maybe your best answer is NO.