What is my next “yes”?
As the new year approaches, I find myself asking this question. I first heard it put this way years ago listening to a then 23 year old woman talk about her fourteen children. With a smile and glimmer in her eye, she shared that her family had grown in a series of yeses.
It started with a trip to Uganda and then the decision to bypass a promising life in the States by moving there permanently. Katie then shared the stories of her first five adoptions, small moments when she felt God whisper “Will you?”, and she managed a nod. Now years after her first agreement, she finds herself amidst 400 orphans on the other side of the world, trying to understand how her yeses added up.
Our yeses matter, and they do add up.
Dan Allender says, “We are the sum of every yes that we utter.”
And so I wonder what yeses led me here and what dominos will fall next. Of course, one yes is also a million no’s. And yet, I think the glorious yeses, prayerfully fueled by our deepest passions, however mundane or routine they seem at the time, leave no room for memory of the no’s.
With the new year upon us, it’s time to think about goals again. Goals and resolutions can sound daunting, like trying to hike Everest in four big steps. But what if our future simply begins with one yes. And then another yes. Then another. Change begins to feel possible.
As you think and hope for the new year, can you pick one yes must you utter?
