I watched the preview for Yes Man a week or so ago, starring Jim Carrey. While I am not a big fan of his acting, the plot line got me thinking. Essentially the film is about someone who says no to pretty much every risk and opportunity in life, and as a result, never advances in his career, never gets a date, never does much of anything at all... You get the idea. Through a turn of events taking only a few minutes of cinematography, Jim's "no man" attends a seminar, and inspired by the rally cry of "yes" begins to say yes to pretty much everything. In the case of the film, it appears that hijinks and tomfoolery ensue as he says yes to a lot of things that are downright strange-like a mail-order bride, but for those of you who might go see this movie, I will only betray my ignorance if I keep going on about a movie I haven't seen...
When I starte this entry a few weeks ago, I was thinking that as I sit at my computer in the cold, having worked late and run errands to while away most of a Monday evening, that I might do better in my 'yes' and 'no's'. In Matthew, Jesus tells us to let our yes be yes and our no be no. In other words, we are to be people of our word-a relatively simple concept but a very difficult task. Beyond that, I think that Jesus is also saying that what we say yes and no to is important.
When you look at day-to-day life, it isn't usually the single yes or no's that make the most difference. For most of us, our daily decisions involve relatively insignificant matters that even the most indecisive among us can handle: breakfast or no breakfast, striped shirt or solid color, turkey on rye or ham on wheat, etc., and ad nauseum... Of course there are those people who say yes or no at a critically right/wrong juncture and their lives are irreversibly changed by a winning lotto ticket or a foolhardy stunt gone wrong, but I think that for most of us, the "yes" and "no's" that affect our lives most profoundly are composed of the amalgous effect of a series of decisions made over an extended period of time. While that typically means that may have to work hard to break patterns of making the wrong decisions, there is come encouragement to be found in the reality that each individual decision is rarely the end-all.
But back to yes and no, yes? The reality is that for most of us, we will reach a point in our lives when we yes or no to the wrong things. Actually, for most of us, it will probably happen more than once, to varying degrees of severity, and we may even make the wrong call more often than not! Some circumstances will be so minor that will won't even realize we have made a miscue and others, if not corrected in time, may result in regrets that we may carry with us for a long time. (Especially those perfectionists among us who have perfected the art of blaming themselves for not doing quite as well as we could/should/might have, regardless of the circumstances).
So which is more important, yes or no? Obviously, saying yes to something that is clearly bad such as drug use or promiscuous sex can result in lasting, often damaging and even fatal, consequences. Saying yes to binge drinking has resulted in some people never making another decision. Of course, we have all heard the saying "Just say no to drugs." But then again, it is of little practical purpose to try to determine whether then yes or no's are more important. The reality for most of us is that a yes in one part of our lives may very well mean a no in another part, or vice versa. This is particularly relevant when we make decisions about things that are good in and of themselves but may not be the best things for us in our lives now or ever. After all, life is a fatal condition for 10 out of 10 of humans nowadays as long as Christ tarries, and we all have limited time to spend on this earth. (To be continued...)
