Default to Yes

“You’re so soft,” my friend said to me one night.

It was kind of late and we were wrapping up Pasta Night at our house. My oldest son, who had been to both soccer and baseball practice that evening, had just asked me for some ice cream.

I hadn’t answered yes or no, I had just asked “do you qualify?” which means, “have you fulfilled all your nutritional requirements,” and that particular night meant, “did you eat your carrots?” I was on the path to yes, and we all knew it. 

I looked at my friend and said, “I like to say yes to my children as much as possible,” and smiled at my son as I handed him some baby carrots from the crudité platter.

Come to think of it, I like to say yes to my friends, neighbors, and colleagues whenever possible, too. “Yes, I’ll be happy to give you a ride home from the game.” “Yes, it’s no trouble at all to put your son on the bus today.” “Yes, of course I can get that to you, but it will be by the 15^th of the month as I am managing multiple priorities.”

And I try really hard to always say “yes” to God.

In Genesis 6:14, God commanded Noah to “make thee an ark.” God hasn’t asked me to do anything of that magnitude, but there was a time in my life that he asked me to do something that I wasn’t sure of. I wish I could say I was like Noah, who in Genesis 7:5 “did according unto all that the LORD commanded him,” without questioning Him, but I did have some doubts.

It was a dark time in my life where I was consumed with worry over our family’s finances. At the time, I couldn’t see the way out of the terrible mess I was in, but I knew that worrying was doing God’s work. So I prayed to Him, asking Him to show me what was the next right thing to do. And then a consulting job materialized.

It was a dreadful business-to-business telemarketing job. Really, God? I wondered. I didn’t want to do that kind of work at all – I’m a writer. This job would mean I would have to take a career detour. Additionally, I was compelled to shelve my personal writing projects. Yet I had to trust that it was part of the master plan. I’d be able to work from home – not without childcare – but without the commute and within close proximity to my children. At that time I only had two – my oldest had just turned three and my youngest was almost 20 months.

So I said yes.

That “awful” job I accepted and worked at for a year, smiling and dialing, was a stepping stone in the path to the very solid and stable job I have in Corporate America today, which affords our family most of the things we need and some of the things we want.

The Bible tells us in Genesis 9: 1 that “God blessed Noah and his sons.” When we say yes we are not only a blessing to others, but we are also ourselves blessed in many ways, as was Noah.

The mother of three sons, Caroline Poser lives with her family in Groton. She works full-time as a software marketing professional and moonlights as an author. For more information: www.CarolinePoser.com