These days we get plenty of schooling on how to say no.  We’re taught how to say no to a job offer that’s not good enough, a too-needy friend, a second slice of cake.  Women’s magazines, in particular, are full of articles about saying no – to the potential mate who doesn’t measure up, to other people’s demands on your time and attention, to that second slice of cake.  Knowing how to say no is a valuable skill, no doubt.  But so is knowing how and when to say yes.  However it seems that saying yes has fallen out of fashion.

In a society so focused on saying no, it can be hard to grow because growing requires a yes; it requires a change to the status quo.  Plus, saying yes nearly always involves a challenge to your comfort zone, something we don’t get much training on how to deal with.  Declining becomes the default position, our immediate, knee-jerk reaction.

These thoughts were much in my mind recently when an opportunity presented itself.  (Perhaps you can guess which one.)  My first response was  - What?  Huh?  I can’t do that.  But then I realized I really wanted to take the opportunity.

That’s when my comfort zone woke up and started fussing.  “You’re not qualified.  Who do you think you are? You don’t have time.  You won’t be any good at it.  People will laugh.”  The usual.

As I wrestled with the complaints of my comfort zone, I realized there was another voice, one that said, “You should do this.  You can do this.”  I realized that God probably wanted me to accept the opportunity.

So I did.  But saying yes is never easy.  It means putting yourself on the line.  It means doing something new and unfamiliar and thus, almost always, uncomfortable.  At the very least it means changing the status quo and rearranging your schedule.

But you can only grow if you change.  Saying no all the time just keeps you locked in the box of the known.  Saying yes, on the other hand, allows for growth, the gaining of wisdom and experience.  Accepting the opportunities God sets in front of you is part of the walk, part of the path.  I have to remember not to start with no.  I have to remember to stop and think, discern what I should do, then say yes (or no) as appropriate.