Yes and No

“Let your yes be yes and your no be no.” - Matthew 5:37

This teaching of Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount is one that sounds so good and so right, but we know is not always easy to practice. We hate disappointing someone when they ask something of us, so we say yes even though we don’t want to, or know we don’t have the time or energy. Maybe we have a fantasy of who we would like to be, so we say yes and commit without thinking through what the request will require of us. Or we default to say no. Our barriers around our time and energy are so rigid that we can’t imagine having the luxury of saying yes to one more thing.

Whatever our reasons, it can be hard to really, truly let our “yes” be yes and our “no” be no. And yet. This is what Jesus asks of us who follow him. It’s part of how we work to bring God’s kingdom here to earth– to build a loving and trustworthy world.
Both halves of Jesus statement go together– we have to be willing to say no in order for our “yes” to be genuine. As much as I would love to say yes to everything and do all the things all of the time, saying no is a way of recognizing that I am not, in fact, a robot that can work and produce all day, every day. Sometimes we have to say “no” to good things so we have the space to say “yes” to the best things. 

What brings you joy to say “yes” to? What good things might you have to say “no” to in order to have space and energy for the best things. Where might the Holy Spirit be nudging you to say “no” or “yes” this week?