"Yes, Lord."

"And so my prayer is that your story will have involved some leaving and some coming home, some summer and some winter, some roses blooming out like children in a play. My hope is your story will be about changing, about getting something beautiful born inside of you about learning to love a woman or a man, about learning to love a child, about moving yourself around water, around mountains, around friends, about learning to love others more than we love ourselves, about learning oneness as a way of understanding God. We get one story, you and I, and one story alone. God has established the elements, the setting and the climax and the resolution. It would be a crime not to venture out, wouldn't it?

It might be time for you to go. It might be time to change, to shine out.

I want to repeat one word for you:
Leave.

Roll the word around on your tongue for a bit. It is a beautiful word, isn't it? So strong and forceful, the way you have always wanted to be. And you will not be alone. You have never been alone. Don't worry. Everything will still be here when you get back. It is you who will have changed."
--Donald Miller.

I read this in one of Miller's books a few months ago, and it has kind of been haunting me ever since...I think the key to this is the decision to leave or to stay. To change or to remain. To love or to become complacent. To follow or to ride the fence. To give or to hoard. To love recklessly or to love with caution. To exist or to live. On paper, the choice is obvious. In life, it's also obvious, but we chose to side with caution and comfort.

It's the same fork in the road that the Rich young ruler faced. He asked Jesus what it would take to follow Him, and Jesus plainly said, "Sell everything you have, and follow Me...Give up your comfort, your gods, your life. Then, follow me to TRUE life..."

In this story, I find myself. I am the rich young ruler. Scratch that. I am not a ruler. But I am an American girl with a loving family and a comfortable living situation who has a love for scarves and jewelry. I mean, yes, I definately love Jesus. I really do. But, to be completely straight with you, I struggle with following Him. I have to sometimes "leave" to follow Him. I sometimes need to give up time with those that I love to follow Him. Sometimes, following Him means that I sit with someone who no one else wants to sit with...Sometimes, I need to give up that $60 pair of perfectly-fitting GAP jeans to follow Him. And I usually either do it while kicking and screaming or I say "not now." I see the cost as too high, and I walk away sad--just like the rich young ruler. I hate it, but I do it.

I am learning to answer Jesus with "Yes, Lord."
Will you give it all up for Me? "Yes, Lord."
Will you give up your dreams? "Yes, Lord."
Would you give up your family? "Yes, Lord."
Would you give up your friends? "Yes, Lord."
Would you give up school? "Yes, Lord."

"Yes, Lord." That's every Christian's calling--to just respond with "Yes, Lord."