Monday, December 17, 2012

Yes and No

I have been saying "Yes" a lot lately.

Yes, I'll play the flute for that Vespers Service.  Yes, I'll sing with you at the neighborhood Christmas party.  Yes, I'll ring bells at church for you since you can't be there.  Yes, I'll go Christmas caroling with you.  Yes, I'll have a piece of carrot cake.  Yes, a little wine would be nice!

Now you know all about my weekend.  It was fun!  I'm exhausted!  Today will definitely be a day to say yes to rest and recovery.  But if someone calls and asks if I'll do one more "special" thing between now and Christmas, I'll probably say, "No." (With a smile, of course!)

Yes and No.  What my life looks like--and what I look like for that matter--depends on where I choose to say "Yes" and where I choose to say "No."  It's easy to feel like I'm saying "Yes" too much during the holidays.  There are so many....opportunities!  The sweet treats are everywhere!  The special occasions abound!  I don't want to miss any of the fun.  I guess the trick is to say yes to the things that really matter, and to not feel guilty about saying no to the others. 

In my old life, I said yes to every kind of food and no to all but the most essential activities (like walking to the kitchen--essential!)  Last year during the holidays I said "NO! NO! NO!" to most of the treats that were offered.  This year, I'm saying, "Yes, thank you," to what I hope are reasonable amounts of special treats.  I did say no to the Third Annual Cookie Exchange at my church.  I wanted to go and be with my friends, but I knew that being surrounded by all those delicious home baked cookies would be too much for me to handle.  (Good grief!  Just thinking about it I swear I can smell cookies right now!)  There's always next year.  Maybe that is something I will be able to say yes to later.

Matthew 5:37 begins with, "Let your 'yes' be 'yes' and your 'no' be 'no.' "  We need them both to get through this life!

Hugs.



1 comment:

  1. A very wise person (let's see, I'm sure it was YOU!) once advised me to do what I can, and let go of the rest. This very good advice enabled me to let go of the guilt for the things I was saying "No" to. Obviously, we have to let go of the guilt for saying "Yes" sometimes, too. But you described your tiny treat bites to me, and I don't think any guilt is necessary! Remember when Daddy was on that very strict anti-fungal diet? The author of that diet (who absolutely feels that eating sugar is deadly) talked about eating his mother's fudge! Even he splurged!

    I am so proud of you for all the ways you are being transformed!

    Love you and loved talking to you today :)
    Your sister

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