Let Your Yes Be Yes

We have a singer in our family.  This little singer sings.  All.  The.  Time.  She sings as she's washing her hands.  She sings as she sets the table.  She sings as she plays.  She sings in bed.  She sings in the shower.  You get the idea.  She sings.  And the songs that she usually sings are not songs previously heard by...anyone.  She sings anything....and everything.

The other day, this little singer was walking upstairs to put away her laundry, and this is what I hear her singing:  "Let your yes be yes, and your no be no.....let your yes be yes, and your no be no...." over, and over and over and over.

I laughed.  A lot.  I actually tried to video it, but it didn't work.

You may ask, where did she get this little ditty?  From me.  Not the singing part, but the saying.  Here's the rest of the story....

Our girls had gotten into the habit of answering, when they were asked to do something, "Yes, I promise.", or even "Yup, I pinkie promise."  Well, that's all fine and good for a laugh, but I realized that they were thinking that if they promised, then they'd do it.  But if they didn't promise, then they weren't really bound to do whatever it was they said they were going to do.  Once I realized this, I decided it needed to change.  Then, I came across Matthew 5:37, where it says, "Simply let your 'Yes' be 'Yes,' and your 'No,' 'No'; anything beyond this comes from the evil one.".

So, we had a chat.  And we've taught the girls to "Let your yes be your yes....".  Apparently, a three year old can learn this, so I have no excuse!  Now, anytime we talk about promises, any one of the Girls will pipe up, (yup, you guessed it!) "Let your yes be yes!".  

Can you imagine how different our society would run if we all were people of our word?  How businesses would change?  And relationships?  It would be a whole new world.  I know that I am only responsible for me....and my family (kind of!), so we will strive to be people of our word.  And let our yes, be yes.