I've been in business a long time. Half my life, to be exact. I've seen customers want what they want when they want it. I've seen employers want what they want when they want it. And I've experienced how hard it is to say "no." I struggle with no, in all honesty. I like people to be happy with me and I'm ridiculously driven. I'll keep working, keep going, until I just fall flat.
But that isn't what God wants.
I used to have such a hard time understanding how we were set apart from the world. I never really saw how I was that much different than anyone else, save for the whole no-sex-before-marriage thingy. But as I've gotten older and matured, I've started to see how very different I'm called to be.
I look at work stuff and think, "You know, if you just said no we wouldn't be stuck in a pickle when we can't deliver because it was completely unreasonable to say yes. Or even if we do deliver the toll that delivery takes on our staff because they've killed themselves to meet it. Oh, and then there's the whole if-you-work-a-miracle thing and are successful how you're expected to being a continual miracle worker."
It's all dreadfully unreasonable. I look at it and think, "Sheesh. We all need to get a whole bunch better with that word - no." Then I think about how frustrated I get when my kiddo tells me no. I don't like it. At all. And as I sit here and contemplate all this, I find myself wondering - do I ever get mad when his no is reasonable? Do I ever see his noncompliance in any other way than disobedience?
Truthfully, I don't. I don't like to hear "no" either. Obviously, he's nine so his no's are not always reasonable ("Hey, I need you to take out the trash" shouldn't generally be followed by a no or freak out). But sometimes I wonder if I'm paying attention.
Anyway, the point of all this musing is that I can't really make the world do anything different. But I can dare to push against the grain and be different myself. As I sit here exhausted mentally, feeling overwhelmed by the things I simply can't accomplish quickly, I think, "Jesus never promised me easy. He promised me possible." Even though this certainly isn't a march to martyrdom, I can live in God's rhythm, even if that means the uncomfortable-ness of sitting in the tension of "I wish I could, but I can't."
"No" makes my "yes" more valuable. Even if that's not how the Western world runs. And, while I'm here, I think I'll be a little more cognizant of my kiddo's no-s. Am I teaching him the value of no? It's a good question.
