The Next Right Thing: A Simple, Soulful Practice for Making Life Decisions

by Emily P. Freeman

Psalm 46:10 is an invitation to be still and know he is God. There’s a reason why God invites us to be still first: the stillness makes way for the knowing. It creates space in the same way becoming a soul minimalist makes way for the naming of unnamed things. When I am constantly in motion, my body rehearses anxiety rather than practicing the unforced rhythms of grace. Ironically, in choosing to finally stop chasing something we don’t think we have, we may end up finding what was always there. Having an uncluttered soul isn’t a one-time declarative statement but an ongoing way of being. Sometimes I feel centered in the early morning only to lose it by breakfast. Rather than being a scattered person unable to do anything, I want to be a gathered person equipped to do her next right thing in love. The same way I moved between the beach and the coffee shop, I also travel between the past and the future, trying to avoid regret, working hard to predict outcomes, considering all the ways things could go wrong. I feel guilty about missing days with my kids in a summer that hasn’t happened yet. I lose sleep over a conversation that I might have to have with an acquaintance. I imagine how someone might perceive me, and then I defend myself in my mind against that pretend perception. I allow my emotions to walk into the future without my rational mind, like a gang of toddlers without a parent. I can’t possibly do the next right thing because I’ve traveled so far into the future tha...