wake up call

There's this NOOMA we watched in church today called Shells. In it Rob Bell tells a story about his son collecting shell shards on the beach. After a while they notice this beautiful star fish floating in the sea and his son runs out into the surf to get it. Before he reaches the starfish, he runs back onto shore. Rob encourages him and he runs back out and then back in again without the starfish. It happens again. Finally, Rob asks him why he isn't getting the starfish. Discouraged, his son answers, "Because my hands are full of shells."

Rob leaves his viewers with this statement, "You need to be able to say no because you have already said yes." In other words, don't fill your hands up with a bunch of shell pieces when you are looking for something really great. Or (my interpretation), when you have said yes to something beautiful and significant and important, you need to say no to things that diminish its value.

I am terrible at saying no. Terrible. It almost physically pains me to say it. There is so much good to be done, so much help to be offered. I can do it. I'm your girl. But I sat in my quiet pew this morning and wondered, at what price? To whom or what is my "yes," my most important task, the starfish I need to leave my hands empty for?

This afternoon I scanned through the latest Good Housekeeping and read the interview with Michael J. Fox. Toward the end of the interview he said this:

"...one of the rules I have now is whenever my kids say, 'Can you look at this?' or 'Can I ask you something?' or 'Can you come here for a minute?' no matter what I am doing, I say yes instead of saying 'Just a sec.' They never abuse the privilege, and I never once regretted it. What they took me away to do was never less important than what I was doing already."

Liam is not even five and I cringe to think how many times I have said "Just a sec" to him or haven't even heard his question until the fifth time he asked it. There are so many good things to be doing, that can be done, that are being asked of me. But often I am pulled in a hundred different directions to do them all and I don't have any hands left to hold the starfish.

I think God is telling me today that my big "yes" needs to be right here at home. And if I can't say yes to my boys instead of "Just a sec," it's time to unload some shells.