Whisper. Or, Saying No. (FMF)

I think I might have missed Summer. It was busy and fun but not nearly enough sit and soak. 

Ironically, I set out putting a few measures in place, allowing for less do-do-do and more soak-soak-soak. But it backfired and now I sit here in the last few weeks of heat (I certainly hope so.) wondering why I feel so buried in stuff and listening to the garishly loud shout of my To-Do List.

I am doing things differently this Fall.

I’m doing what matters to God. What matters to our little four. What matters to me.

And if I have to say “no” again and again and again… until there is space to breathe and think and be, I will.

Even when it disappoints. I will say No. Unless HE has asked me to say yes. I’m saying “No” when He hasn’t said “Yes.”

Kindly. Genuinely. Graciously. But still, No. Even if I have to whisper it at first. 

I will whisper “No” to those “maybe I should’s…” that rise up in the back of my mind until I’m more confident in my ability to say “No” firmly.

I used to be quite good at saying it.

When I was a working mom, that was it. “I work. I’m a wife and mom. That is just about all I can do. ”

But as the job title changed to SAHM, it was like I burned my “get-out-of-over-committment-free card.”

As though because I was allowed to wear yoga pants every day to work than I should always have time for every single thing, every opportunity, every request.

Well I want that little card back. 

For the sake of my sanity.

For the sake of my often neglected quiet time.

For the sake of my over-extended self that snaps at the people I’m here to serve in the first place.

For the sake of my enjoyment of the ministries that GOD actually has inserted into my life.

Because the mathematical truth of saying “YES” is this: Saying yes to one thing, is absolutely saying no to another. That other thing far too often becomes my family or my health.

Our fear of man looks a lot like overcommitment sometimes, but it’s often just plain idolatry.

We cannot sacrifice those things we KNOW God has given us to do on the altar of what everyone else thinks we SHOULD be doing. 

No = Margin. Whether you whisper it or say it confidently, if you don’t know for certain that you should be saying yes– say No.

And then revel in the space you have when God gives you a “yes.”

 

Linking up with Five Minute Friday– my favorite community of writers– over here!