Just Say No

READY8 “Half of the troubles of this life can be traced to saying yes too quickly and not saying no soon enough.” ~ Josh Billings

AIM8 There you are once again, stewing in the familiar territory of deciding whether or not to volunteer for another committee. Is it for one of the many activities of your children, your church or your place of employment? You realize you can't possibly take on one more thing in your busy schedule. And yet, the people on this committee really NEED you. You desperately want to say yes, but that small quiet voice in your head is nudging you to say no. You take time to think it through, you may have even prayed for wisdom about making the right decision, yet your brain tries to convince you that you could really be an asset to the people who want your time commitment. Still, the twinge in your stomach raises another red flag that perhaps you really aren't meant to take on this additional responsibility. So, what do you do?
You just say no.

Truthfully, it's as simple as that. You've weighed all the options or prayed for God's leading and as much as we'd like the trumpets to blow and a billboard to be displayed with the correct answer, God doesn't often work that way. God is there in those quiet voices, those gentle nudges and those instinctual feelings of what's right or wrong. He uses those subtle nuances to see if you are truly paying attention to His direction. The good news is that when you learn to recognize those promptings and follow His leading, just saying no is absolutely liberating.
Oh, by the way, the people who needed you on their committee will most likely be understanding about your decision. Later they will discover that they actually needed a different person who was divinely appointed to help them. Guess what? It wasn’t supposed to be you this time around. Whew!

FIRE8 Stop and re-evaluate your priorities and commitments. If you are stretched too thin or have too many obligations, do yourself a favor and bow out gracefully before your lack of involvement creates stress and imbalance in your life and the lives of those who are counting on you.

Be Excellent!
Lori