It didn’t take me long to get hooked, to find something that seemed so rich I had to run over to Facebook and post it, like I do when I happen upon a truth I think will resonate with and/or encourage others:
“At the core of each of us lies the conviction that by encountering us, others ought to know at least some tiny measure of God’s enduring love.”
Beautifully put and so true!
These words come from the heart of my friend, Lisa Hendey, who has just launched her book, “The Grace of Yes.” In writing this book, Lisa wants us to take her hand and travel with her through the yeses in her life so that we might be encouraged to say yes more often, and more exuberantly, too.
Because she so completely believes in the message, Lisa asked her friends over at Catholicmom.com, the website she founded and to which I contribute regularly, to help spread the news of “The Grace of Yes.” Here’s the #GraceOfYes North Dakota style:
Even before yesterday’s Grace of Yes Day, which had Lisa’s friends and fans posting photos of themselves all over social media to shine light on her book…
She was nudging us into the excitement by asking us to help name the goldfish on the book’s cover.
“Fiat” turned out to be the winning entry! I love it. And from early indications, the book and its resident fish seem to be doing swimmingly.
The subtitle of Lisa’s book, “Eight Virtues for Generous Living,” indicates the direction Lisa wants to take us; guiding us through how she came to say “yes” to the graces of belief, generativity, creativity, integrity, humility, vulnerability, saying no, and rebirth.
It’s a perfect time of year to ponder the “yeses” in our life. As we approach Advent, we are getting ready to recall God’s “yes” to us when he sent his only son into the world to teach us how to live and love, and even die. We will be pondering in our hearts, as Mary did, the yes that came from her heart, allowing the miracle to be.
Blogger Elizabeth Scalia wrote an article on Patheos, “In the Land of No, ‘Yes’ is a most dangerous word.”
In it, Elizabeth says: “Everything grows in ‘Yes.'” Aint it true? Yes is a living, growing, expanding word, whereas No seems restrictive, dying, anti-climactic.
Sometimes, we have to say No, but I want to live a life like Lisa proposes; a life full of a propensity toward Yes, especially when it brings with it the potential to expand goodness and love.
All of this talk of “yes” has made me think on some of my own yeses. The most obvious seems my yes to our kids…#1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6. Our #3 is a perpetual guiding light to us, though no longer here. As for the rest? Sometimes, the daily yeses to them come with a forced smile. Other times, with an easy grin. But just today, I was thinking of our kids and how much less my life would have been if even one had been a “No.”
Help me be a “Yes” girl, Lord. It’s always the better way.
I’m thinking, too, about the movie my husband and I saw on our date night this weekend, “Fury,” the powerful World War II film starring Brad Pitt. In it, one of the characters, played by Shia LaBeouf, is trying to psyche himself up for doing what needs doing — facing the enemy head on. He pulls out a verse from Scripture, Isaiah 6:8: “Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, ‘Whom shall I send?’…And I said, ‘Here am I. Send me!'”
Now there’s a Yes that inspires — sacrificing it all for the Lord, even though you know it means heading out to the front lines.
How far are you willing to go with your yes? Part way or all the way?
By the way, since Lisa sent me a gift, a signed copy of her book…
I have an extra that I’m going to give to the first person to comment today!
Q4U: What does your “Yes” entail?
My “yes” is something I truly have discovered you have to be mindful about so you can lead with it, at times when you’d perhaps choose otherwise. I think its about embracing what is coming, leaning in, despite how hard it may look in the beginning!
I’m very excited to read and learn more about- the cover page alone would pull me right into wanting to read!
Vicky, you’ve just won yourself a beautiful little book. I will drop it off sometime soon! 🙂 I hope it blesses you as much as I think it will. You are definitely a “yes” girl and I am so grateful to be journeying with you!