Day Four: Yes and No
But let your ‘yes’ mean ‘yes,’ and your ‘no’ mean ‘no.’ Anything more than this is from the evil one (Matthew 5:37, CSV).
If there’s one thing our obsession with texting has taught me, it’s the importance of paring down my message. Why use a sentence when a word—or letter—will do? Why take the time to write a complete and coherent thought, utilizing proper grammar and punctuation when “K” will do?
Okay, perhaps our smart phones, as some fear, have pushed us to the edge of a communication demise. But there’s another lesson we can draw from this.
We live in a filibustering and blathering age that tends to want to hide behind our words and excuses. We’ve lost touch with the simplicity and truth of today’s scripture verse.
The simplicity of living a yes or no life. Trimming back on our rhetoric and our need to put forth a front. Living the truth that has come to mean so much to me this year: it is what is…and I am who I am.
K?
TO PONDER: What might need to be removed from your life, your speech, your actions, for others to know to accept you as see you—not needing to try and read between the lines or try to figure out what you might mean but not be saying?
TO DISCUSS: Just as a mirror gives a true reflection, our actions and speech needs to honestly reflect who we are, and what we believe. Find someone you trust and have an honest talk about their perceptions of you and your faith.
PRAYER: God, sometimes we prefer not to really do the hard work of honestly paring back. We hide behind a flurry of words. We look like Adam and Eve, seeking to cover our nakedness. Help us to not to be afraid of the vulnerability of being who we are, and who we are in you. Amen.
Pot of Manna 