It’s important to just say ‘yes’ sometimes

This piece is about how having a big enough ‘yes’ frees us up to take on challenges and voice our concerns at the same time. 

But first, some background:

At the time of writing, we’re enjoying the last few weeks of summer, the kids are still off school, the Ashes against the old adversaries are in full swing and the early mornings and evenings are still light enough to enjoy. 

So, in keeping with the season we now have Christmas shopping on the various TV shopping channels, countdowns to Christmas are appearing in our Facebook timelines and society in general seems to have lost the plot when it comes to appropriate timing.

I used to get grumpy about the increasingly early Christmas mentions. 

It was pointless, nobody listened and certainly no one stopped the madness. So, this year I decided to get on board and go one better, reading the story of the birth of Jesus in the Gospel of Luke, in August.

Out of ‘season’ I read it from a fresh perspective; I suspended my ingrained expectations of what the Christmas story is about, and looked at how people responded.

In a nutshell, the angel Gabriel (not fluffy with wings and harp, but awesome enough to cause trembling fear in the people who saw him so that he had to tell them not to be afraid) tells both Zechariah (husband of childless Elizabeth) and Mary (not yet married to Joseph) that they’re going to have children.

Mary and Zechariah both say, in effect, ‘no way, how can that happen!’ and we can’t blame them. Mary was a virgin, which is a pretty big obstacle. Zac and Liz (excuse me) are an old man and woman and have never been able to have children.

Archangel Gabriel, messenger of God (he’s a really big deal as far as angels go) rebukes Zechariah and renders him speechless until the birth of his son John; in contrast he explains some more to Mary about the miracle that will take place in her womb. Why treat them differently? Why so harsh with the old man?

The clue is in Mary’s later words: ‘I am the servant of the Lord, let it be to me as you have said.’ Getting back to my opening paragraph, she had already said a huge ‘yes’ to God, way before Gabriel showed up with his news. 

“As His servant, I accept whatever He has for me” is how The Passion translation of the Bible puts it. She’s already made a decision that she’s ‘in’, whatever happens.

Mary was a young woman whose heart was set on serving God; Zechariah was an old man, a priest who was ‘doing his job’ serving God. Maybe his heart wasn’t in it? Certainly he wanted some proof to persuade him of what Gabriel said. It reads like he’s saying: “convince me and I’ll believe you,” compared to Mary saying: “I’m already in, but how on earth are we going to do this?” 

We can be like either of them; at different times I’ve been like both of them and I know which one works best (it’s not the one where I protect myself with cynicism and hesitancy.) 

Whether it’s in marriage and other committed relationships; or in a team situation where my part is needed for the success of everyone, it’s always better when I’ve made a strong yes to our goal upfront and decided not to go back on it.

When the difficulties come it can be hard either way and sometimes in our humanity we get it wrong for all kinds of reasons, but there’s a much better chance of ultimate success when our hearts have said ‘yes’ to a purpose bigger than ourselves. 

The best place to put that ‘yes’ is in the hands of perfect love, which the Bible tells us is God Himself, who understands our weaknesses and wants the best for us.