She saw where someone--a wife, surely--had hung a sprigged cotton sheet on a laundry line, and she found herself moved by the picture it presented.~Yoon Choi (From Skinship)

When I'm Italy and walk the streets of my husband's little town, I often see laundry pinned up on the line. There is a sense of poignancy about the image. The clothes gently moving in the breeze remind me of how life goes on. Sometimes when I've passed through a narrow street, I've heard women calling to one another from their windows as they hang up the clothes, their laughter and melodic language echoing down the road. No matter what is happening in the world or in our lives, the clothes must be cleaned, the floors swept, the countertops cleared of spilled sugar and bread crumbs.

There is a slogan from Alcoholics Anonymous that I keep close. Do the next right thing. Often I'm vividly paralyzed with the difficulty of life and by my own set of weaknesses, the state of the world. But this phrase reminds me that each day of life is holy. Often this slogan moves me out of the frozen place. Brew the coffee, read the Scripture, chop the carrots, take the walk, send the text, go to bed. 

My sister wrote me this week and said she'd been reading our maternal Grandmother's Bible. In the margin, our grandmother had written by Joshua 3:4: May the Lord go before us each day for we have not gone this way before. The verse reads: Then you will know which way to go since you have not been this way before. In the margin by Joshua 1:9, our grandmother wrote: May I take this as my verse to serve my God. The verse reads: This is my command--be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or discouraged. For the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.  Even though we have not passed this way before, we are assured of His presence. We gather our strength and courage from this truth and then do the next right thing.

BLESSING FOR THE NEXT RIGHT THING

The frenzied voices are loud.

Get the right mattress, remodel the bathroom, clean the gutters. Don't forget the insurance.

There's a lot to maintain. There's a lot to do.

Meanwhile, people have lost everything in the floods and fires and hurricanes.

What do I do?

Do the next right thing.

Often when we're chopping the celery or dusting the blinds or walking the trail, or driving to work, the answers come.

I can donate the table to the refugees. I can invite the neighbor to sit on my porch. Listen. Validate.

I can give to the project helping the people in Louisiana. I can do the next right thing when I don't know what to do.

May you not be intimidated because you have not passed this way before.

May you be confident that God goes before you.

May you receive God's strength. His courage.

May you not allow fear or discouragement to guide you.

May you experience His presence wherever you go.

AMEN