“I can do all this through him who gives me strength.”
Philippians 4:13
The Ugly Side of “NO” See if this sounds familiar: On the Homefront: A honey-do list a mile long, chasing the kids from practice to school events, feed the family, etc On the Work-front: Deadlines, daily and weekly quotas and tasks, emails, texts, meetings that could have been in an email, etc. Any Man's Struggle As men/husbands/dads, these things would be enough to make any man struggle to keep up with. Now throw in trying to make time for friends, discipleship, fitness, and pursuing your wife. I guarantee this will make any man feel as though he is failing in one or more of these areas. And now your good ol’ friends at MD5 make you feel even worse when they start talking about the dreaded word MARGIN. Can you Say No? As men we are often made to feel as though the word “No” will hurt your reputation. It will cause you to miss out on opportunities. It may wound your pride that you are not enough. In the great scheme of things, what things can you actually say “No” to and still find the right balance? My Challenge As an exercise, try journaling for a week or a month. Even if this is not your thing, give it a try. Make it a simple exercise. Make a list of every hour of the day and simply write down what you did during that hour. Record how much time you were on your phone, computer, driving, burning 15 minutes in some random conversation with a co-worker. Take a look at the day and then the week and see if there are some patterns of wasted time. Downtime is not a bad thing and is necessary but passivity is quite another thing. Busy Seasons of Life Maybe you will find yourself not saying “NO” to important things but wasteful things. Sometimes there are seasons where you must say “NO” to important things as well. If that is the case, be intentional about reengaging when those seasons end. Don't Cut your Spiritual Oxygen Let me caution you against saying “NO” to God to create margin. You will be cutting off your spiritual oxygen. Paul reminded us in Philippians 4:13 “I can do all this through him who gives me strength.” In the tough times when you can’t say “NO”, only God can sustain you. Good luck on finding your "NO"!
Travis Sellers MD5 Lab Coordinator