I am sure, that many have heard the lovely anonymous poem quoted by Elizabeth Elliot about doing the next right thing.
“At an old English parsonage down by the sea,
there came in the twilight a message to me.
Its quaint Saxon legend deeply engraven
that, as it seems to me, teaching from heaven.
And all through the hours the quiet words ring,
like a low inspiration, ‘Do the next thing.’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 tomorrow, child of the King,
trust that 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.Looking to Jesus, ever serener,
Elizabeth Elliot
working or suffering be thy demeanor,
in His dear presence, the rest of His calm,
the light of His countenance, be thy psalm.
Do the next thing.”
I have been thinking about this poem a lot recently, and what it means for a mother, particularly a mother with many small children, and frequent, often urgent demands that can feel like interruptions. If you are in the trenches of motherhood, it can sometimes feel as if the world is whirling around completely out of control. Through following the advice of this poem – by simply doing the next right thing- we can experience great peace, because of the freedom that it gives.
It frees us from the need to hurry.
There is a lovely quote by St. Francis De Sales that goes like this. “Never be in a hurry; do everything quietly and in a calm spirit. Do not lose your inner peace for anything whatsoever, even if your whole world seems upset”. For me, this is very convicting. I don’t know about you, but I hurry a lot. This does not mean that we should do everything in a slow and somber way. Doing something in a hurry and doing something quickly are not the same thing. Hurry implies a sort of rushed or frazzled aspect, while quick, implies doing something with a lively energy. It is wonderful to do our work with a quick and vibrant energy. When we hurry, it is much easier to be irritable and impatient toward others. Hurry is often caused by one of three things: we didn’t use time well earlier in the day and are trying to compensate, we aren’t currently doing the right thing, or we want to control the outcome of our actions. Right now, though, we can’t change our past mistakes so there is no reason for a guilt-trip. What we can do is choose to use our time right now in a way that serves God and our families.
It frees us from the need to multitask.
When we are truly and faithfully trying our best to do what we ought to be doing, we can just focus on that one thing. If we are truly striving to do God’s in each moment, we can give ourselves fully to that thing, and offer it to God as an act of love. For the most part, people do not have the ability to simultaneously focus on more than one thing. Multitasking is usually just switching back and forth between two or more actions, generally losing time and focus in the process. God knows our human nature, and he only asks us to do what we are able to do. Even when the situation feels out of control and we feel pulled in a million directions, we can still choose to take a deep breath and focus on the next right thing.
It frees us from the need to control.
It is a great temptation, to want things to go a certain way – to want our actions to have certain results. But this is not our role as servants of God. Our role is to faithfully perform the responsibilities which God gives us and leave the results to Him and trust that He will take our humble efforts and use them for His glory. Rather than frantically striving to make things go a certain way, when we choose to do the next right thing, we can do our work with a quiet heart, free from anxiety.
Doing the next right thing is beautiful and freeing, but I would be lying if I said it was easy. It is hard to completely surrender our own will to the will of God. We want our kids to turn out a certain way, our projects to turn out just how we want, we want things to look or be a certain way. It is hard, and even scary to let go of the desire to control, and trust all our efforts to God, knowing that He will use all things, for good. Simply do the next right thing.
