Most of us are not free to say “yes” before we say “no.” Our first response is normally “no”: “I don’t trust that. I don’t like that. I don’t agree with that.” The word enthusiasm (en-theos in Greek) means “filled with God.” I’m not encouraging mindless enthusiasm, but the enthusiasm that is based on intelligence, wisdom, and the great gift of hope. Hope is a participation in the very life of God. This hope has nothing to do with circumstances or events going well. It can even thrive in adversity and trial. True faith, which always includes hope and love, is a predisposition to “yes.” I would say that a foundational “yes” is the most distinguishing element between a secular agenda and one that is guided by the Spirit of Jesus. You can spot the different energy in a moment! “With him it was always ‘yes,’ and however many the promises God made, the ‘yes’ to them all is in him” (2 Corinthians 1:19b– 20). Jesus was a “yes” man in the deepest meaning of that phrase.
— from The Wisdom Pattern: Order, Disorder, Reorder by Richard Rohr, OFM
