"Maybe Yes and Maybe No"

Read Proverbs 3:1-7

Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding.
-Proverbs 3:5 (NIV)

YEARS ago a little girl in our preschool class would always sit up front next to me for our morning "circle time." When I'd show the children's name cards for the helper chart, she'd blurt out, "What about me?" Or she would ask, "Is it my turn today?" I finally began telling her, "Maybe yes and maybe no." For some reason, that answer seemed to comfort her, and she would smile and echo my words.

Over and over again, I'm reminded of my words to her. If I want to know if something is going to happen in the future, I'll think, Maybe yes and maybe no. If I want to know if certain prayers will be answered, I'll repeat those words to myself.

When I do this, it somehow comforts me as it did that student. I realize that it does me absolutely no good to try to figure out all the little details. I just have to trust in the Lord. I repeat the words over and over - "maybe yes and maybe no" - until they are planted in my heart to stay. They remind me that I can trust any decision to an all-powerful God who loves me.

by Beth DeLong (Hawaii, USA)