I’ve said this before but let me say it again: the longest and toughest two-letter word in the English dictionary is “no.” Especially if you’re a people pleaser. Sometimes it’s so hard to utter that little word! If you struggle like I do, I hope this helps.

This week I had to make a difficult decision in a ten-minute time-frame. I won’t spell out the details for a variety of reasons, but this is where my blog turns into a personal journal that helps me mark my trail and process my thoughts. This week I said “no” to a nomination for a position that was tough to turn down. Who knows how the voting would have turned out, but I felt like I needed to preclude that possibility despite the fact that, on paper, it was very appealing.

The first thing that came to mind when the opportunity was presented was a saying that has become a personal mantra: don’t say yes just because it’s difficult to say no. If you don’t know who you are and who you’re not, you’ll probably say yes when you should say no. Why? Because you’ll focus on the wrong thing. You’ll focus on the position instead of your calling. I had to do a quick analysis of my priorities and my gifts and my responsibilities. And I knew that in light of those things, I need to say “no” even though 49% of me wanted to say yes. That is also when some pre-decisions I’d made about travel and outside commitments helped keep me in check.

I was honored and humbled by the potential nomination. And I have great respect for the leadership that wanted to nominate me and I have great loyalty to the constituency I would have potentially served. But I don’t think it was the right time. And I don’t think I have the right gift mix for the position. I think I can serve more effectively without the position or the title.

By the way, I have second-guessed myself a few times. That’s normal. And it’s definitely one of the toughest “no’s” I’ve ever uttered. But it brought me back to ground zero: I want to be dead-center in the will of God. That is the only position that counts. That is the place of blessing. That is where God can use us most.