Do you have trouble with “Yes”? Not the oh-my-goodness-gracious-if-I-try-to-fit-ONE-MORE-THING-in-this-week-I’m-gonna-blow kind of yes, but the

Really, God? Was that TOTALLY necessary on your part? *sigh* okay. And with a deep breath, we leap like a goldfish out of a martini glass . . . and into something infinitely less inviting and comfortable.

At times like that, “fiat” can sound like something of a four-letter word. An uncomfortable, inevitable, unending . . . pain. And yet, even at times like this, there is room to learn, room to grow in love. The sweetest rose is the product of a mound of fertilizer, after all.

I see you nodding. Can you relate to that idea? Well, take heart. Today people all over cyberspace are blogging, pinging, and podcasting about it … thanks to Lisa Hendey and her The Grace of Yes.

In my line of work, editing Catholic books on spirituality, I often get to read people’s conjecture about Mary and what she would and wouldn’t have done in a given situation. For Catholics, it’s all about WWMD? And yet, if you think about it, it’s kind of hard to extrapolate, based on our own experiences exactly what she would have done.

Let’s set aside the basic differences of iPods and indoor plumbing and early dismissals. After all, she was the one perfect mom, with one perfect kid. We can’t claim that kind of blessedness. Yet over and over, we get told to . . .

Just. Say. Yes. Just. Like. Mary. To be humble. To be generous. To be … believing . . . and to be … Wait. What’s that on p.107? To be willing to say no.

Because the one thing we know for sure about Mary is . . . she was a mother. And mothers sometimes have to say no. No to the good, to make room for the best. No to the possible, to make room for the most important. No to the anger, to grow stronger in love. And no to my own agenda, to make room for infinite possibilities.

Today I will make a little more room in my life for the Grace . . . of Yes.