Message from Karen Boyce, Chief Operating Officer

Two of the most powerful words are yes and no.

My yes or my no regulates how I set my schedule.

How I set my schedule determines how I live my life. 

How I live my life determines how I spend my soul.

When I think about my decisions in light of spending my soul, it gives gravity to choosing these two words more wisely.

Each and every thing I say yes it sets the pace of my life.

An overwhelmed schedule leads to an underwhelmed soul — a soul with a full calendar but no time to really engage in life.  A stressful pace in life often leads to a stressful place in life. 

However, Matthew 3:17 reassures us of God’s goodness as His child: “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.” At that point, Jesus had not yet performed any miracles, led the masses or gone to the cross.  God was pleased with Jesus before accomplishments.  Christ’s love for His child was established just in His being.  Romans 6:4 assures us that “… just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.”  The new life is our unique identity, wrapped in the love of Christ.  The new life enables us to seek God for what and who we have the ability to say yes and no to.  We have the ability to say no in order to be available for a divine yes.  But, unlike Christ, we forget. We often let others, our guilt and our assumed obligations define our identity, who we are, or what we spend our schedule and soul doing.  Social media often offers a great area of comparison to keep us motivated to striving.  Our lives then become filled with so much activity that the only way to keep up with it all is to rush.  It becomes so easy to start chasing the wrong desire, making our life to look more like others.  It is exhausting just talking about it. 

Rather, I am God’s child.  Wouldn’t it be so much better to demonstrate God’s best for me with my schedule and within my soul?

God’s best for me means engaging with life and the people in it.

God’s best for me means noticing divine invitations and understanding my freedom to say yes and to say no. 

I must underwhelm my schedule so God has room to overwhelm my soul.

Christ is well pleased because of whose I am, not because of what I do.  He is well pleased because of an unfathomable, unconditional love that’s not earned, but simply given.  Yes! Today I will unwrap the gift of His love, embrace it, and lean into His guidance for any other opportunity I am given to say yes or no. 

Excerpts and quotes from Proverbs 31, Lysa TerKeurst.