This past week found our entire family involved in on-purpose creativity – putting all our energies into one project!  We still need to finish, but it was a great time.

How about you?  Did you think through ways to increase the creativity factor…

and limit media intake?  I hope so!

Week #14  Nurture your ‘No’

At first I thought of offering you a simple message — Just Say No!  But this alone isn’t always helpful.  Instead, I’ll share some around another idea: nurture your ‘no’ response.

I have fallen in love with the word nurture.  Here’s what Webster has to say:

“to care for and encourage the growth and development of”

This has uplifting application for us today!  For when it comes to saying no, it’s important to understand what’s helpful to us or not.

I’ve seen it before; I’ve done it before.

After a terrible season of taking on too many tasks or not managing well the ones we’re truly responsible for…we swing the pendulum clear over to the other side, put our foot down and STOP everything – or nearly everything.  We press the brakes and bring it all to a screeching halt.

The screeching is usually our own voice about how crazy life has become.  Anyone?

And sometimes, it’s truly necessary to fully clear our schedules.  Sometimes.

But if nothing is learned or gained in the process, it’s only a matter of time before we’re right back to the craziness.

An incredibly stressful cycle and way of living.

A lifestyle of  taking on too much and then dumping it all (over and over again) is a clear sign of a need for maturity and growth in our decision-making ability.

This requires learning what our priorities are.  We want to nurture and exercise our  No responses in order to embrace the YES we’re really after.  It takes practice and patience, but learning to say ‘no’ to what isn’t good for us right now will bring calm into our lives.

The goal is not a stress-free life, but one sustained by purposeful, intentional living.

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Saying a healthy ‘no’ is most easily done when our YES is well-defined.  So today, instead of one action plan and more to read as usual, I offer you a few resources (mine and others) to identify where you are.

Let’s stop this pendulum-swinging lifestyle!  It’s incredibly tiring.

If you’re unsure of your right-now priorities:  Defining the Season of Life

If you’re figuring out your YESes or NOs:  Juggling Life – 3 important realities 

If you struggle with No:  How to Say No When You Feel Pressured to Say Yes

If you’re a stay-at-home-Mom balancing motherhood & outside commitments:  Learning to Say ‘No’

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Remember, it is a process to grow in nurturing your no.  Don’t be too hard on yourself, take it slowly and ask God for direction along the way.

Enjoy the journey…

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