Yes

“Do you want to play mancala?” asked J. “Yes,” came my reply. Yes is such a simple word. With it comes release of tension. Say it now, yes. Can’t you feel the tension dissipate? The other day at church while talking with a friend I commented how I felt I was telling J “no” all the time. “Don’t run your hands down the walls while walking next to them.” “Don’t hold the door open, the air’s on.” “Raise the toilet seat.” And the list goes on. I like to have things I can say yes to and tell him he’s doing a good job.

It nice to hear, “yes” when it is being addressed to me. If I think the answer is always no, I’ll stop asking and stop trying. If I think that it should be “no” then it will color my understanding and affect my behavior. I don’t want my son developing those kinds of beliefs. This is not alleviating his responsibility to learn the proper way to do things but that he is not devalued in the process.

I think Father had this in mind when He inspired II Corinthians 1:20. His ultimate yes is Jesus.

For as many as are the promises of God, in Him they are yes; therefore also through Him is our Amen to the glory of God through us.

When I think a promise doesn’t really apply to me, the truth is it does. It is as I respond, “so be it” does it apply to me. It is in Him that I can receive the ability to say “yes” back to Father’s “yes.”