The Power of ‘No’

I recall a Sunday during my tenure in Augusta when our youth were leading our congregation in worship.
One of the youth was assigned to read a Biblical passage from the Old Testament which contained some words that were particularly difficult to pronounce.
I went over the passage with her and gave her what I thought were the correct pronunciations to the words.
When she left my office I gave her these instructions, “When you say those words say it with authority. No one else knows the correct pronunciations either and they will believe you’ve got it right.”
There are some words in our language that are difficult to say. I usually can handle verbs, adverbs, adjectives and common nouns fine. My problem comes with saying someone’s name properly. Many folks get real upset when one mispronounces one’s name.
As many of you know I am privileged to serve as the public address announcer for Piedmont Academy football games. One evening an irate parent from a visiting team stormed into the press box to correct me because I was mispronouncing his son’s name by putting the accent on the wrong syllable.
I’m pretty sure my mispronunciation would have been less irritating had the visiting team not been getting beat rather soundly.
The truth is there are some words that are more difficult to pronounce than others. Ironically, one of the words that folks have the hardest time saying isn’t all that difficult to pronounce and that is the word “no.”
As I shared with the congregation at the First United Methodist Church last Sunday our collective inability to say “no” had placed our society in a perilous condition. Our collective inability to say “no” has lead to our nation’s debt reaching over $14 trillion.
Our inability to say “no” has brought about the worst economic climate in our country since the Great Depression leading to mounting personal debt, bankruptcies and foreclosures.
In the realm of social issues our inability to say “no” has led to a cavalier attitude towards personal responsibility. Our rush to be “tolerant” and “open” has led to the disruption of the American family which is threatening the underpinnings of our society.
It is often difficult to say “no.” The problem is that oftentimes what we really want to do conflicts with what we ought to do. However we need to realize that in saying “no” to some things we are saying yes to other things. The truth is that in every “no” there is a “yes” and in every “yes” there is a “no.”
Each and every day we as individuals we are confronted with opportunities to say “yes” or “no.” The challenge is to have the courage to say no when it is needed. It isn’t pleasant saying “no.” Most of us want to please others.
However, in the end there are times the word “no” should be the most pleasing words we can ever say.