What Would You Have Me Do, Oh God? by Kim Halfhill

For the past three months, every phone conversation, text message, email, and Zoom meeting has started something like this. “How are you?!?  These are strange times we’re living in.”  And unfortunately, I don’t see the need for my standard greeting to go away anytime soon because these are, indeed, strange times that we are living in!  Every news cycle seems bleaker than the last.  Despite that, I’m searching for good news, for signs of hope.  I’m digging deep.  Still, some days the world seems overwhelming and scary. 

You, too? 

And yet, I know at the very core of my being that our hope is not tied to my social media feed or the latest news headlines, but in Jesus Christ.  I am then compelled to ask, what is my role in sharing the hope and love of Christ in the midst of this swirling chaos?  How can I help without unknowingly hurting? How can I be a voice of compassion without adding to the noise?  What would you have me do, oh God?

More often than not, I find myself frozen (pardon the premature pun) with indecision.  What would you have me do, oh God?  “Do the next right thing.”  Except, hmm… that voice doesn’t sound like God.  It sounds like Anna from Frozen 2! (You see, there’s a Disney soundtrack playing continuously in my head, so it’s not surprising that I would find a little inspiration in these songs.)

“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.”

What would you have me do, oh God?  “Do the next right thing.”  “When you feel lost, when hope seems gone, I am with you.  Just do the next right thing.”

In the days and months ahead as our plans shift and change, may we find our hope in Christ and do the next right thing.