do the next thing

Do you have a best friend? If you are part of a couple, do the two of you have another couple who are your best friends?

Susan and I are blessed beyond measure to have such a couple in our lives. For about a decade and a half, the four of us have grown increasingly closer, and because of their investment in our lives, we love Jesus and life more. They love and accept us unconditionally, encourage us when we are down, celebrate our victories, and kick us in the pants when and where we need it.

One of the things the four of us do is regularly communicate. By that, I mean daily, which usually happens via text: questions, funny quips, memes, prayer requests, prayers made…you know, the everyday.

Yesterday morning we received a text from Angel, with some pictures that contained a portion of a book she’s reading (we often share our reading with each other). It was such a helpful word for us as our family continues to navigate a season of transition.

And I knew I had to pass it along to you, dear reader, because I believe it will be a help to you as well. Now, or someday soon. Here’s one paragraph:

“A lifetime is made up of thousands of ordinary moments in thousands of ordinary days….some are not-so-ordinary days because they mark unforgettable pain, tension, or sadness: the day we said goodbye to a dear friend, resigned from a job, buried a loved one, learned a difficult previously unknown truth, or finally confronted a wound or wounder.

But most days are lived out putting one foot in front of the other while we "do the next thing,"…”

That thought was followed and emphasized with a poem. One that Elisabeth Elliot (1926-2015)—Christian author, speaker, and missionary to Ecuador—famously quoted as an expression of living this way:

“Many a questioning, many a fear,
Many a doubt, hath its quieting here.
Moment by moment let down from Heaven,
Time, opportunity, guidance are given.
Fear not tomorrows, child of the King,
Trust them with Jesus. Do the next thing.

“Do it immediately, do it with prayer;
Do it reliantly, casting all care;
Do it with reverence, tracing His hand
Who placed it before thee with earnest command.
Stayed on Omnipotence, safe neath His wing,
Leave all resultings, Do the next thing.”

There’s a lot of times as humans when we’re not sure what the future holds, or where our lives are heading, and if we’ll make it through.

And so often, this angst we feel in such times is that we’re supposed to have it figured out. We’re supposed to have a plan. And not just a plan for tomorrow, but “a five year plan,” when all we seem to hold in our hands is more questions than answers.

And in such circumstances,
heck, probably in every circumstance,
this seems like a remarkably simple plan:
Do the next thing.

And as you do the next thing, remember what another poet, inspired by the Holy Spirit, God himself, had to say about it:

“Yahweh directs the steps of the godly. 
He delights in every detail of their lives. 
Though they stumble, they will never fall, 
for the Lord holds them by the hand.”
(Psalm 33:23-24)