Merry Pre-Christmas 2015

Are you racing like I am?
(If not, tell me your secret, please.)
I invite you to stop everything! Apply the brakes for a moment.

A favorite poem of Elisabeth Elliot’s stopped me in my tracks last week. It’s like I could hear her speaking to me from the hallowed grandstands of GLORY. (In case you didn’t know, Elisabeth passed through her own Gates of Splendor on June 15, 2015.)

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Decades ago she handed me a copy of the poem Do the Next Thing. It helped me understand how she remained so calm with her life’s busy demands as a writer and a speaker (along with being a mother, a grandmother to eight, a wife, a radio teacher). As the poem calmed dear Elisabeth, I pray it brings shalom to our frenzied pre-Christmas lives – yours and mine!

‘What to do NEXT?’ we all ask, as a dozen urgent and kind deeds vie for center stage. Elisabeth’s answer is Do the Next Thing.

Do The Next Thing

From an old English parsonage,
Down by the sea,
There came in the twilight,
A message to me;
Its quaint Saxon legend,
Deeply engraven,
Hath, as it seems to me,
Teaching from Heaven.
And on 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 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
Looking to Jesus, ever serener,
(Working or suffering)
Be thy demeanor,
In His dear presence,
The rest of His calm,
The light of His countenance
Be thy psalm,
Strong in His faithfulness,
Praise and sing,
Then, as He beckons thee,
DO THE NEXT THING
​
-Author Unknown