Let your yes be YES. Matthew 5:37
My default when asked a question is No. Sometimes’s it’s No! I quickly assess and as quickly respond with a cut to the chase with NOPE!
This default to no doesn’t work to well in my marriage or any other relationship worth having. The negative default of no tends to create a my way or the highway culture.
It works very well with my dog or when I find my stinking thinking taking me down a dark alley. Like navigating white water in a kayak, or a lane change at high speed the quick response, NOPE! is a lifesaver.
Slowly, I am finding YES a better response. My friend Eric agrees. A few days ago he shared the secret of yes. It is a yes with boundaries, or conditions. This way you don’t give up everything and conversely you don’t get everything. It’s a real win all around.
Back to my stinking thinking. Yes works well with my stinking thinking too. How so? In saying Yes, I choose to take the high road. I say no to the low road. Saying a strong YES affirms my personal code, aligns me with Jesus’ high road, redirects my focus off what is drawing me down and elevates me to what is true and noble, Philippians 4:9. Yes to this creates a new song.
The story goes that inside every man there are two dogs. A good dog and a bad dog. They both fight it out to see who is going to win. So, which dog wins? The dog I feed. Feed the dog low road stuff and he gets stronger. Feed the good dog with high road thinking and saying YES – the good dog gets stronger. Say yes to the good dog and we starve the bad dog.
Oh man. God I need Your help with this!