He really did get down on one knee, although a lot of it is foggy. You think you’ll remember it all like a movie, but instead you remember weird things, like how the bench where we sat had a small dedication plaque on the back of it. I think it was a woman’s name, the bench given as a gift to the park in her honor. She never could have known when her life was gone that we would begin ours together here, on a bench with her name on it. But there it was, a silent witness.
I said yes (of course) and that one word propelled us forward into the next 10 years. I still say yes, everyday. No one asks if I will take this man every morning when I get up. But I do take him, whether the day is worse or better. He asked the question once. I answer him with my life.
Things going wrong or crazy or heartbreaking doesn’t mean I should have said no. It just means the world is broken and we still live in it. And so the success of our yes does not depend upon our circumstance but upon our convictions. We usually know this is true in marriage, but it’s true in other things, too.
Sometimes no is my default because I know yes will require something of me. Movement. Commitment. Expectation. Change. We know saying yes means a lot, implies a lot. And so we hide behind no and leave the yes’s for the brave and the courageous — those who are not us.
But your world would be different if you were not in it. And your brave yes might be just what we’re waiting for. Yes, I will believe. Yes, I will move. Yes, I will open my eyes. Yes, I will show up. You might not like what you see. You might be afraid of what is required of you. But yes is the first step and you are not alone. What is your brave yes?
We’re talking about changing the world everyday in October. See the other posts in the series here.
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