Thread by @Work_and_Words

Amen. But this year, I've been pondering what Mary must have had to say No to in order to say Yes to God.

Social expectations? A "normal" life? A normal marriage? A simpler story? Acceptance among her peers and family members, not all of whom would have believed her? THREAD

https://twitter.com/scchristoforou/status/1375179044216565760

These things were/are not trivial.

Having always been a people pleaser and "yes person," I am trying to remember that even our most blessed and significant "Yes's" to God must necessarily mean No's to other things, people, or attitudes. And that's okay.

It's an especially comforting realization for me right now.

I am having a beyond-difficult 2021, starting on Jan 1 when I had to make a life-altering decision that amounted to the biggest "No" I've ever had to say to someone. Or to myself.

It can be difficult--traumatic really--to say no. Especially to someone you love. To realize that there are limits in life and in ourselves, the bounds of which--like death--somehow can't be crossed.

I'm seeing slowly that just as Mary's yes to God also meant some no's to other things, that my biggest life No to date was also my soul's deep-down way of saying Yes to God.

I simply couldn't say yes to God and to man simultaneously in the specific situation.

Am I being convoluted and cryptic? Sorry. Also sorry to @scchristoforou for hijacking his post for my thread 😂

But I'm sharing this b/c I think we all struggle with boundaries and knowing what it even means to say yes.

I've spent most of my life thinking that to be a Christian means to say yes. At all costs. To set healthy boundaries and all that, fine, but really we should be saying yes most of the time. To be all things to all people all the time, no questions asked.

But I'm stumbling into the painful reality that it's not as simple.

To be a Christian is to say Yes *to God* (not to everyone and at all times), in *freedom* (not in coersion or out of fear), when He asks.

And in this yes is a freedom, a logical extension really, to say no.

We may need to say no to certain expectations placed on us. To certain expectations we place on others. To certain concepts of God we've falsely idolized. To ways of being in certain relationships or contexts. To certain habits, thoughts, attitudes, behaviours.

And all of this may also bring an immense amount of grief. Of time wasted. Of people we can't save (b/c only Christ can).

But if in the grief we turn to God, live into the freedom of our yes to Him, in repentence, He will save us. He will let our yes be yes and our no be no.

Anyway, ramble over. Blessed feast. May Mary's Yes to God be our yes, and may her No's be our No's, as the Lord wills.