YES, NO, MAYBE… Three responses we could give to almost any question asked of us. So what one do you choose most of the time? If I ask you to take out the garbage would you tell me no? or Yes? If I asked you did you do you want to go to the movies what would you say? Simple questions so far, aren’t they. Well lets make it a little more of a challenge then. Want to skip school? How about a beer – want some? Now what do you say? Hmmm, makes you think a little bit more don’t it. But still, these may not really be that hard of questions for you. For all of the questions above, we have a starting point to work from to, base our response. We know that if we skip school and our parents find out we will get grounded. Or, if I say no to taking out the garbage I will get yelled at. So in reality, we know what our response should be, but we still have the freewill to choose. With each response we give, there will be on outcome. If I say yes to skipping school I will have two things happen. I could have an adventure with my friends and I will get in trouble with my school and parents. So what makes us choose a YES over a NO or MAYBE? Why would I choose to do something that will cause me grief latter?
This is nothing new for teenagers; throughout history teens have had to make decisions. They had to give a YES, NO or MAYBE answer to a question. And the questions are basically the same. Sure, in the Middle Ages it would have been “Do you want to go see a play” and not the movies but it was basic same thing. It may not have been: “Do you want a beer”, but rather “Want to eat a tomato?” (At one point in history the tomato was thought to be poisonous). Some teen said yes to this, and most likely they did not die, but they may have been grounded for it. So what makes someone say YES?
Even in the bible we see this. Moses had to say yes when God asked him to lead his people out of slavery. Noah had to say yes when God asked him to build an arc – a big arc on dry land. Think about what people must have said to him, “Look at that fool, he is building a boat on dry land” but Noah still said yes. I think that the word yes can get us in to more trouble sometimes then the word no. Think about it, Want a beer? – YES or NO. Want to smoke? – YES or NO. Want to skip? – YES or NO. If you said no to any of the questions your friends may call you names but you won’t get in to trouble. No is a safer response, sometimes. If Noah would have said no, no one would have made fun of him. But, on the other side God would have been very displeased with him. Hmmm, so maybe No is safer, but not always better. This is getting a little confusing I am sure. So let me try again…Let’s look at Mary, you know the mother of Jesus. She was asked a question by God – “Do you want to be the mother of the savior of the world?” That is not a simple question. Its’ not the same as do you want to go see a movie, but that’s what God asked her. So let’s look at this. Mary was a teen age girl and never married. She came from a religious family and lived in a small town. Joseph was to be her husband. As we know Mary did say yes, but let’s look at what must have went through her mind before she did say yes. She most likely though first off: “I’m going crazy, an angel is asking me to be the mother to Gods Child”. Once she got pass that, it was most likely something along the lines of, what will my parents say? What will all the other kids think? And, what will Joseph do? So as you can see a NO would have been easier.
-Paul
The STATIC Shop
View Point: Paul 