"no"

Sometimes you have to say it, the word we hate to hear, "no". If you are a parent you better learn to say it. Children who get everything that they want are in for a rude awakening later in life. If you are in charge of something you have to decide, yes or no, many times. To be a leader you must learn to be able to say no in a manner that keeps people connected.

"No" can be delivered in a way that is painful, or no can be delivered in as kind of a way as possible. To those on the receiving end of a "no" it can still feel the same. That is why we have to put on our big boy or big girl clothes when we hear a no. We can't always get what we want, and we are not in charge of everything.

If you are the one making decisions, understand this: to say yes to something is to say no to something else. To be a leader, you must be willing to stand for what you are trying to accomplish and to understand that the choices that you make to help achieve those goals, by definition exclude other choices.

There will always be yesses and there will always be no's. Life goes on.

Here are a few "no's". No to apathy. No to ignorance. No to taking the easy way. No to spending more that we should. No to hurting others whenever possible. No to hate. No to selfishness. No to spiritual blindness.

Now, that opens us up for some yesses. Yes to caring, yes to hard work, yes to being frugal, yes to being responsible, yes to kindness, yes to love, yes to being awake.

It's a beautiful day in God's world, be sure to see the good.