The next right thing.....

Alicia and Lily took Marilyn and I to see Frozen 2 last week.  Cartoons—I’m sorry! “Animated feature films”—are sure not like they were when I was a kid!  I don’t remember our ‘movies’ being able to provoke tears or contemplation in adults.  But I was moved to both by that movie!  One of the songs I really enjoyed has had me wondering how to incorporate it into one of my meditative posts—"The Next Right Thing”, performed by Kristen Bell as Anna.  The music and lyrics are written by Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez. 

Here it is:

I've seen dark before, but not like this

This is cold, this is empty, this is numb

The life I knew is over; the lights are out

Hello darkness: I'm ready to succumb



I follow you around (I always have)

But you've gone to a place I cannot find

This grief has a gravity, it pulls me down

But a tiny voice whispers in my mind



You are lost, hope is gone

But you must go on

And do the next right thing



Can there be a day beyond this night

I don't know anymore what is true

I can't find my direction; I'm all alone

The only star that guided me was you



How to rise from the floor

When it's not you I'm rising for



Just do the next right thing

Take a step, step again

It is all that I can to do

The next right thing



I won't look too far ahead

It's too much for me to take

But break it down to this next breath, this next step

This next choice is one that I can make



So I'll walk through this night

Stumbling blindly toward the light

And do the next right thing

And with the dawn what comes then?

When it's clear that everything will never be the same again

Then I'll make the choice to hear that voice

And do the next right thing



Open any news link on your computer, or open a newspaper, or turn on the TV or radio news.  Is there any good news anymore?  All we hear about is rotten health care, never-ending wars in Afghanistan or Iraq, the state of the economy, world hunger, or dozens of other major social issues.   Sure, there is always someone who is the voice of hope.  Someone that paints a picture of how the future could be.  Someone who speaks in a way that makes you feel it might be possible.  However, there is also a naysayer in every story who speaks up; “That will never happen”, “Not possible.”  The cloud of cynicism rises up and smothers our hopefulness.

I get so frustrated!  I want to say to the cynic, “Quiet! Let’s hear the hopeful vision!  I want to see and hear and feel and taste what that might be like, just for a minute; just for 30 seconds!  To not have men and women going off to war every day and hearing a body count each week.  To know that we have made it possible for everyone to have access to basic health care.  Or to know that no one has to go to bed hungry tonight or any night, not having eaten for days.  Or that every conceived child will be allowed to live and thrive.  I just want to imagine, for a few moments, what that world might look like and sound like and feel like!”

That’s why for me, it’s comforting in this Advent season to read Isaiah.  Isaiah was anticipating the savior, foretelling the future, trying to instill hope, painting a vision of an ideal world that awaited the Israelites (Isaiah 11:1-10).  I’m sure he had his critics.  “He’s nuts!  A wolf the guest of the lamb??  Wild animals led by a child??  Never happen.”

The naysayers, then and now, miss the point!  Unless we first see the vision, hear the hope, and taste our desires for peace and our longing for love, strategies and “realistic plans” are just pushing pieces around on the game board.  Every person that can see and articulate a hopeful vision is a gift to us, regardless of their political affiliation.  They help us see a better world, our hope is stirred, and our desires are again deeply felt.  They shake us out of our complacency and remind us that the One we call God is beyond anything we can imagine, and, even now is in our lives everywhere!  We need these folks to set fire to our desires, to rattle our hearts and habits, so we can see clearly.  And then we may know the next right thing to do.  It’s called ‘discernment’.  It might be to call our senators, protest or pray, but it also might be to just do what’s in front of us.  As the song says, “Take a step, step again. It is all that I can to do, the next right thing”; like take out the trash or walk the dog.