Mar
15
2022
The Task At Hand
Posted in Daily Living 2 Comments
Our family loved playing board games.
We still do, when we’re all together and when there is a chunk of time.
Some games I will play as well.
Some games I prefer to watch from afar.
I remember when I went from one child to two children.
I remember putting the baby up for a nap and having time with my older daughter.
My intentions were good.
However, early mornings and night feedings brought on a midday sleepiness.
I can remember playing Candy Land with my three-year-old.
I literally fell asleep, siting up, in between turns.
I knew my eyes were growing heavy.
I also knew that this time with her was precious.
The rules in a board game need to be explained.
The rules in a board game need to be age appropriate.
If they’re too complicated, there will be a bleary eyed child sitting across from you.
A few steps of instruction are best.
I actually divided the Memory game in half, so there would be less matches to find.
We played two games of Memory, with a smaller amount of cards to pair in each game.
I can still hear myself explain: first we do_____, then we_____.
There was an order to the steps so that the game was played as it was intended.
As I was thinking about all of this, I thought of a poem that Elisabeth Elliot often quoted.
The actual poet is unknown.
One repeated line in the poem is often attributed to Elisabeth: Do the next thing.
It is the second stanza of the poem I especially love.
Many a questioning, many a fear,
Many a doubt, hath its quieting here.
Moment by moment, let down from Heaven,
Time, opportunity, and guidance are given.
Fear not tomorrows, child of the King,
Trust them with Jesus, do the next thing.
What wonderful advice.
Do the next thing.
Don’t worry about the enormity of the list: Do the next thing.
Don’t be concerned about the amount of steps needed to complete something: Do the next thing.
There is such freedom in those four little words.
The task doesn’t seem so enormous when we think only of the next thing that needs doing.
We are able to do the next thing.
We are capable to handle a task in pieces.
My aunt had given me quite a few of her poetry books.
One poet, Edgar Albert Guest, wrote simple poems that linger in my mind.
Simple poems about everyday things.
The poem, It Couldn’t Be Done, has a refrain that has stayed with me.
Somebody said that it couldn’t be done
But he with a chuckle replied
That “maybe it couldn’t,” but he would be one
Who wouldn’t say so till he’d tried.
So he buckled right in with the trace of a grin
On his face. If he worried he hid it.
He started to sing as he tackled the thing
That couldn’t be done, and he did it!
Somebody scoffed: “Oh, you’ll never do that;
At least no one ever has done it;”
But he took off his coat and he took off his hat
And the first thing we knew he’d begun it.
With a lift of his chin and a bit of a grin,
Without any doubting or quiddit,
He started to sing as he tackled the thing
That couldn’t be done, and he did it.
There are thousands to tell you it cannot be done,
There are thousands to prophesy failure,
There are thousands to point out to you one by one,
The dangers that wait to assail you.
But just buckle in with a bit of a grin,
Just take off your coat and go to it;
Just start in to sing as you tackle the thing
That “cannot be done,” and you’ll do it.
What a burden lifted.
One foot in front of the other and simply begin.
Do the next thing.
He started to sing as he tackled the thing that couldn’t be done, and he did it.
Very rarely do we go from task A to B to C, without distractions.
Often distractions are the way of things.
For those with long to-do lists, it is comforting to know that doing the next thing is an option.
Not just an option but the preferred way of doing things.
But all things should be done decently and in order. (1 Corinthians 14:40)
We can get paralyzed by the sheer number of tasks at hand.
We can become so overwhelmed, we don’t know where to begin.
Just start in to sing as you tackle the thing that “cannot be done,” and you’ll do it.
Two poets concur that it is doable, Decently and in order, according to God’s Word.
I always admired this quote from Elisabeth Elliot and still remember it often when I may feel stuck, uncertain or not sure where to begin with something. Have shared her quote with others as well. Amazing how it truly helps to nudge us along if we will just “do the next thing”
Carolyn,
It is a quote I think of often.
So simple, yet so profound.
Gina