“I don’t know — ask Dad.”

That was my standard response when my husband, Ranjit, and I found ourselves in a quandary.

If I didn’t have a solid answer to Ranjit’s question or found myself confused by what to do in a particular situation, my fall-back response was to turn to his dad for counsel.

In early November, Ranjit’s dad went to be with Jesus. It came as an absolute shock to family and friends. If you’ve been reading this blog the last month or so, you know something of the emotional journey we’ve been on.

At his memorial service, the most pervasive sentiment shared was just how incredibly selfless and helpful dad was. Family and friends shared experiences where he had quietly and unobtrusively pitched in whether it was to help file taxes for them, book train tickets, share information about computers and cars, pick them up from the airport at unearthly hours of day or night, show up first when they’d been in a road accident, pay the hospital bill of someone he hadn’t even met … and the list went on.

Without standing on any stage, without a three-point sermon, without mentioning a single one of his good deeds, dad’s life spoke Jesus.

And one of the ways he did that was by saying, “yes.”

Dad barely said no to anyone.

When we asked him if he could watch the kids, he would say, “Drop them off.”

When we asked him to help install photo frames in the house, he would bring his drill.

When we asked him if he could paint our kitchen cabinets white, he wore his work clothes and transformed those old oak doors for the better part of a month

In today’s culture where we are constantly encouraged to say “no” so we can supposedly say our “best yes,” dad’s life was about saying “yes” to people so he could reserve his “no’s” for things that didn’t matter.

And that’s something we can learn from because today we’ve become too quick to say, “Nope, that won’t work for me.”

I know I do far too often.

I say no if it’s inconvenient, if it’s a hassle, if it’s scary, if it takes time, if it’s an interruption, if it’s a burden, if it’s…

In most instances, you don’t even have the awkwardness of saying “no” in person because a quick text message with an appropriately sorry-looking emoji will do the trick just fine.

Dad didn’t say yes because he felt obligated or because he didn’t have a choice or because he wanted to please people.

He said yes because he loved helping others. He didn’t think twice about it. Someone needed help and he was in a position to help, so there was no question,  no cost-benefit analysis,  no “they owe me now.” He didn’t care if they acknowledged it or not or if he got the credit or not. He helped because that was his calling, whether he formally defined that for himself or not.

In my eyes, that’s a picture of Jesus. In Scripture, we see that Jesus often paused whatever He was doing so he could welcome little kids, listen to the ignored, heal those who were pushed aside, help tired fishermen find a haul, visit a tax-collector, make breakfast for his friends, touch and heal the ear of a man who arrested him, pay attention to a small boy with a picnic lunch — the examples abound. Those seeming “intermissions” were a huge part of His mission on earth.

May we be a people who welcome interruptions as opportunities. No, I’m not referring to the self-imposed distractions. But the “inconveniences” that teach us to slow and put people before process, relationships before results, empathy before productivity, and the important ahead of the urgent.

Yes, there’ll probably be people who will take advantage of you and the results of your actions won’t always be tangible or quantifiable. But the truth is, God has prepared good works for us to do. Sometimes, they are staring us in the face and just require us to be available and willing to say “yes.”

May we be a people who run the race marked out for us, knowing that it’s also important to press pause so we can empathize, welcome, and help. May we make room in our lives to say “yes” so we can reserve our “no’s” for things that don’t matter.

 

---

If you liked what you read, SUBSCRIBE for free so you get my posts in your inbox. Or you can find me on Facebook or Instagram. Also, see those unobtrusive little ‘share’ icons when you scroll down? Feel free to SHARE the posts that make you laugh or encourage you. Or both.  Thanks!

Photo by Kelly Sikkema on Unsplash