Say No So You Can Say Yes

Today is only my 12th day of life at the Estate and in this short amount of time an enormous amount of life has taken place. I recently started working at an outdoor gear store, bought a deep freezer and gun safe with my roommates, built 2 lofted beds, fraternity activities and intramurals have kicked into high gear, I have been connecting with friends who I didn't see all summer and somewhere in the midst of all of this flurry of activity I have an academic record to build. I was pondering the freedom that comes with age the other day and I think that it can be compared to a tightly tied shoe. As I have grown up from grade school through high school and now into college the laces on my shoes have become looser and looser, offering more and more freedom, but with freedom comes new adjustments. I am almost to the point in my life where I have the choice of whether I want to keep the shoes on or slip them off all together and see what walking barefoot feels like. It is a scary place to be in. Credit card bills are real, relationships are real, school matters more than it has in the past and I am seeing the weight that my actions today are going to have on tomorrow. I spent an hour on the phone with the cable company today trying to figure out why our bill was so high and once I figure that out I have to bring it to the attention of my roommates and reach an agreement about how to get paid back for various start up fees. I tell you this because it is easy to lose sight of things and forget whom our foundation is found in.

Our foundation is not in how well we please others, because there is not enough of you or me to go around to meet everyone else's needs and wants. I am learning to say no for the first time in my life. It's tough, because I really enjoy being needed, but I have had to come to terms with the reality that there is only so much time in the day and that when I never say no I cannot really say yes. "Simply let your yes be yes and your no, no; anything beyond this comes from the evil one." Matthew 5:37. Seems harsh doesn't it, saying that if we flake out and don't really mean yes when commit to something it is from the evil one. Why would Jesus put that in such harsh terms? Because when we over-commit we are limiting our God given potential to do the things that God has called us to. Saying no is definitely an act of faith. It puts us in a vulnerable place because people might not like us if we decline an offer they give us.

Matthew 7:24-27
"Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash."

When we over commit we are making the choice to build our house on the sand and that is what it feels like doesn't it. The
exterior structure of our life is all together, but with the wrong wind or even the wrong footing inside the house, everything could come crashing down. To build our house on the rock, we must constantly be in prayer, "Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God." (Phil 4:6) Honestly, I have never really been good at constantly being in prayer, but when I think about it, I spend a lot of time managing my lists inside my head and those concerns could be much better managed by giving them to God. My challenge for myself and for anyone who finds life even just slightly overwhelming is to say yes and really mean it and to find the freedom of a house on solid rock.