Book Review // "The Best Yes"
I am 5'4" tall. There is no way I should've been able to see it. It was on the top shelf in the Christian book section at the library {I haunt that section every Tuesday, scrounging for a bit of wisdom, I know it like the back of my hand at this point; the other day a librarian asked if I required any assistance in finding an item? I scoffed in her face. Not in this section, I don't homegirl.}. But something that day made me glance up to the very top shelf, spot it, and reach up on my tippy toes as far as my fingers would stretch and grab it and bring it down to inspect it. I knew it must be a good read simply by the way the cover was worn soft and the pages looked as though they had been turned many times by different hands. The cover was gray and blue, two of my favorite colors, I like to think I don't judge a book by it's cover, but let's be honest: every now and then one just gets me. It simply said The Best Yes : Make wise life decisions in the midst of endless demands. Mmmm sounds like something you need Rach. So I took the book home with me and promptly struggled to stay awake as I made it through the first eight chapters. It's not that they didn't have anything good in them or anything that spoke to me, it's just that the way she wrote was not exactly my cup of tea. I found some of her humor to be slightly cringe worthy and being INFJ I sympathized with some of her more embarrassing material. Nevertheless I plowed my way through eight chapters and then set it down and promptly forgot about it for almost a week and a half.
About two weeks later I met up with an acquaintance for coffee and we ended up talking about my past as a teenager and she brought up some decisions I had made. Yikes. The next morning I laid down Noah for a nap, and resignedly picked up my book. That day I read chapter 9 and it was about showing up to practice and putting wisdom to work in my life every single day in order to make the best decisions. That chapter really hit home to me as ever since the conversation the night before I'd been feeling very unqualified as a Christian. My friend was apparently a lot farther along in her spiritual journey then I was and I felt embarrassed and stupid. I felt discouraged like I would never catch up to her {yes even though I know it's an about a race!! allow me a moment to wallow in self-pity!} but Chapter 9 really hit home and the second to last paragraph says, "Sweet friend, you got this. You've made a best yes decision before. If nothing else, you've picked up this book because your heart wants to make decisions that honor God. Just show up to practice. Practice with all you've got in you."
About two weeks later I met up with an acquaintance for coffee and we ended up talking about my past as a teenager and she brought up some decisions I had made. Yikes. The next morning I laid down Noah for a nap, and resignedly picked up my book. That day I read chapter 9 and it was about showing up to practice and putting wisdom to work in my life every single day in order to make the best decisions. That chapter really hit home to me as ever since the conversation the night before I'd been feeling very unqualified as a Christian. My friend was apparently a lot farther along in her spiritual journey then I was and I felt embarrassed and stupid. I felt discouraged like I would never catch up to her {yes even though I know it's an about a race!! allow me a moment to wallow in self-pity!} but Chapter 9 really hit home and the second to last paragraph says, "Sweet friend, you got this. You've made a best yes decision before. If nothing else, you've picked up this book because your heart wants to make decisions that honor God. Just show up to practice. Practice with all you've got in you."
Not only did that give me encouragement I needed but as I close my book and bowed my head in prayer, my Bible fell open to Psalm 141:1-4 which says, "I called to you, Lord, come quickly to me; hear me when I call to you. May my prayer be set before you like incense; may the lifting up of my hands be like the evening sacrifice. Set a guard over my mouth, Lord; keep watch over the door of my lips. Do not let my heart be drawn to what is evil so that I take part in wicked deeds along with those who are evildoers; do not let me eat their delicacies." {NIV; emphasis mine}
That verse alone give me shudders down my back and brought tears to my eyes because in that moment I knew that God does care for me indeed and that he even on this Wednesday morning, before I go to the barn, before I start my load of laundry, and before I change another diaper, He wants me to pursue wisdom. I am not beyond hope.
At some point during this reading of the book I was offered another job, at another barn to take on. I really felt overwhelmed by all the responsibility that this job required and at the fact that I probably wouldn't have a babysitter for the times that I was going to be needed at this barn. Luckily my husband and I were able to sit down and discuss it and after reading this book {which dedicates quite a few pages to learning to say "no" to overbooking yourself} I was able to contact the lady, thank her for her offer, and then confidently say that I couldn't take on another responsibility at this time but I did appreciate her consideration.
Let me tell you that this was probably the first time in my life that I had said "no" to something and did not feel like I had just let someone down. In fact I felt like I had just built myself up! I was more confident than I ever had been when it came to saying no.
After that, the book and I were inseparable. I sped through the material, this time wholeheartedly soaking up every single wise word that Lisa had to say to me through her pages and her pen. I also really enjoyed the other sources that it recommended which includes the time tracker on the book's website!
This book review it has been long enough {!!!!!} but needless to say I walked into this book feeling discouraged and uncertain in life and now I am walking away feeling qualified to say "yes" and well-equipped on how to say "no" to things that take up my time. Hopefully this book will have saved me from any over-committing to people and places and events in my future and will allow me to have a great motherhood full of best yeses.
That verse alone give me shudders down my back and brought tears to my eyes because in that moment I knew that God does care for me indeed and that he even on this Wednesday morning, before I go to the barn, before I start my load of laundry, and before I change another diaper, He wants me to pursue wisdom. I am not beyond hope.
At some point during this reading of the book I was offered another job, at another barn to take on. I really felt overwhelmed by all the responsibility that this job required and at the fact that I probably wouldn't have a babysitter for the times that I was going to be needed at this barn. Luckily my husband and I were able to sit down and discuss it and after reading this book {which dedicates quite a few pages to learning to say "no" to overbooking yourself} I was able to contact the lady, thank her for her offer, and then confidently say that I couldn't take on another responsibility at this time but I did appreciate her consideration.
Let me tell you that this was probably the first time in my life that I had said "no" to something and did not feel like I had just let someone down. In fact I felt like I had just built myself up! I was more confident than I ever had been when it came to saying no.
After that, the book and I were inseparable. I sped through the material, this time wholeheartedly soaking up every single wise word that Lisa had to say to me through her pages and her pen. I also really enjoyed the other sources that it recommended which includes the time tracker on the book's website!
This book review it has been long enough {!!!!!} but needless to say I walked into this book feeling discouraged and uncertain in life and now I am walking away feeling qualified to say "yes" and well-equipped on how to say "no" to things that take up my time. Hopefully this book will have saved me from any over-committing to people and places and events in my future and will allow me to have a great motherhood full of best yeses.
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