I had to say ‘No’ to Ryan today. He was interested in being a part of another production that was to rehearse all through June and July performing in August. There are many practical reasons why I had to say ‘no’. 1) We already have plans for June and July that he would miss most of the rehearsals. 2) He has another program he needs to try to do for St. Thomas during the summer that he had originally told me he was interested in. And 3) Cost.
But he was not sure of all these ‘reasons’ when he brought it to my attention and I wasn’t sure of all of these ‘reasons’ either so he has been waiting patiently for the rehearsal schedule to be announced. This afternoon it was the first thing he did after school and he came to me excited. And I had to tell him, “No.” 🙁
His eye brows rose with disbelief and immediately furrowed in disappointment. Like a dagger, guilt pierced my heart and I began to scramble telling him the practical reasons.
“Mom, it’s ‘no’. It’s okay,” he said, sad but not dejected. I waited a little bit bouncing around the schedule in my head trying to figure out how I could make it work for him. Ryan is a great kid and rarely asks for anything to have to turn him down felt unfair. No matter which way I looked at it there was no way to give him what he wanted. The answer was simply ‘no’.
“Ryan,” I began to give him all of the practical reasons as to why and he stopped me.
“Mom, I get it. I can take ‘no’ for an answer. I can probably find something else to do,” he said.
This morning while looking up some things on the internet I came across some acting classes downtown in Houston that I found interesting. “Maybe we can do an acting class together or something?” I ventured.
He smiled, “Yeah, that’d be nice.”
There are these rare moments that my kids leave me in awe. I’m not sure I react to ‘no’ as logically as he did this afternoon. Taught me a lesson. 😉
Proverbs 3:5
I’ve been dealing a lot lately with hearing ‘no’ and my reaction has been like that of a child stomping, whining, putting my head on the ground and sticking my butt in the air (something I used to do as a toddler). If I would stop reacting and give God some time to reveal to me the practical reason for the ‘no’ then I might see the bigger picture and a new opportunity.
Sometimes being told ‘no’ helps to appreciate the ‘yes’ moments even more. 😉
Have you been told ‘no’ recently? Did you react or respond?
Blessings
Shannon