How Often Do You Say YES?

I can tell you right now. This post isn’t going to be super spiritual. But as I think about it, maybe it will be. I think it’s about GRACE!

It’s time to join up with the lovely ladies who free write for five minutes on a specific prompt. Today’s prompt is the word YES. As usual, I have to mull things over for a bit. Usually it’s while I sleep. Don’t you do your best thinking while playing sheet music?

But tonight, my thoughts came quickly. The question that came to mind was … How often do you say YES?

Anywhoooo … here we go!

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About a week ago I was driving through town. Wait, my husband was driving. I was sitting in the passenger seat. One of my teens asked for my phone. My husband said, “NO! Don’t give it to them.” I brushed it off and passed my phone to them. I do it ALL. THE. TIME. Fast forward to a few days later. I was texting something and typed the word “NO” … the next thing I know … two words popped up in my text (along with punctuation!)–OF COURSE! I tried several times to change it, but you know how auto-correct works. And when you’re frustrated, it’s 10x worse!

Giggling. Loud giggling was coming from the back of my car. (Ooops! Did I tell you I was driving? Actually, I’m SURE I was at a stop light!)

They were so delighted that FINALLY, I used “the word” … and they got the desired result!

(They had made a change to the shortcuts in my iPhone. Whenever I type “no,” it automatically changes to “of course!”)

What does that say to me? My kids are desperate to hear the word YES. (In my vernacular, when all is going well, my kids read OF COURSE! in my texts back to them.) It’s the ultimate approval.

One of the things I’m committed to, is saying YES as often as I can. (Although, sometimes I need to be reminded.) As a believer in Christ–with the desire to please Him in our crazy culture–NO is often the standard answer. So any time I can say YES, I do try to do that.

[I have my iPhone, my iPad, and my iMac all synced together … so every time in this post that I type NO in all caps (on my desktop), OF COURSE! comes up. Thank you, my dear children! I love you!!]

Every time we say YES, we are giving grace to those around us. And isn’t that what the Christian life is all about? Giving grace. Ephesians 4:29 comes to mind … I’m going to include in both the NIV and the NASB.

Let no unwholesome word proceed from your mouth, but only such a word as is good for edification according to the need of the moment, so that it will give grace to those who hear. (Ephesians 4:29 NASB) [Emphasis added.]

Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen. (Ephesians 4:29 NIV)

Please don’t misunderstand me. I’m not saying … (hey … it put OF COURSE! even when I typed the word “not”! This is eating into my five minutes!) … we say YES to everything. But in our house, we say NO to a lot of things–things that don’t glorify God.

So a simple YES to things like …

• hanging around after school for a little while between school and marching practice
• having that extra cookie
• highlighting hair (ok … I’m thinking about the one who wanted to dye a section of her hair BLUE! We opted for a clip in)
• a pair of jeggings as opposed to regular jeans

These are OK for us. Because we are saying NO to plenty of other things.

And that’s it! I hope you’re encouraged to give your kids a little grace and say YES whenever you can. 😉

You know what? I’m not changing the shortcut! It’s a great reminder and makes me smile every time it pops up.