"A little girl raised her hand," Mrs Reagan recalled," and said, 'Mrs. Reagan, what do you do if somebody offers you drugs?' and I said, 'Well, you just say no.' And there it was born."It worked with drugs. Her tenure saw an effective reduction in drug use in high school seniors. Does it work in other areas?
Disciplined athletes say no to sloppy, hit-or-miss training.
Disciplined eaters say no extra calories.
Disciplined time managers say no to distractions.Interestingly, saying yes to God--as in allowing him free rein over our lives--gives us a growing ability to say no in ways that feed our strength:
Say no to skipping today's scheduled moments with God. Strengthen your relationship with God.
Say no to holding that grudge against your spouse, child, neighbor, friend. Strengthen your emotional freedom.
Say no to accepting the status quo in any area without God's help in examining it. Strengthen areas that typically drag us down over time.Where does the discipline to say 'no' originate? In our wiring to pray for and receive wisdom. In Proverbs 8, Lady Wisdom connects the dots from gaining wisdom to living each day well:
"So, my dear friends, listen carefully; those who embrace these my ways are most blessed. Mark a life of discipline and live wisely; don't squander your precious life. Blessed the man, blessed the woman, who listens to me, awake and ready for me each morning, alert and responsive as I start my day's work. When you find me, you find life, real life, to say nothing of God's good pleasure. But if you wrong me, you damage your very soul; when you reject me, you're flirting with death."Life is going to accumulate whether we wisely say no or not. If you know God, ask him to show you the area(s) to focus on in the new year--pray for wisdom and ask for the counsel and strength to start saying no. That, too, will accumulate.
If you don't know God, you could always start by saying 'no' to ignoring or denying him. Randall Niles, attorney, educator, "forged in the fires of Georgetown, Oxford and Berkeley," articulates his journey from practicing atheist to believer. The new year would be a great time to give his arguments a look.
Instinctively we know that no promotes discipline, and discipline leads to measured freedom.
Make it a new year's gift to yourself.
Randall Niles: allaboutthe journey.org; randallniles.com.
Tomorrow: Hospitality is love.
Comments are welcome at feedyourstrength@gmail.com.
