On My Birthday, My Motto

As I celebrate my birthday today and begin a new year of possibilities, I thought I’d share what seems to have become my life’s motto.

Years ago, when I was a young mom of four young children, whom I was homeschooling, I sometimes felt overwhelmed. I remember hearing advice on the radio from a grandmother to young moms:

Just do the next thing.

That suggestion was helpful to me. If I didn’t look too far ahead and just did the next thing, I could get through the day without things falling to pieces, mostly.

I will mention that I had already planned ahead. I believe in setting goals and making plans. I had a binder full of schedules. Checking off items each day was (and still is) fulfilling to me, but it is also overwhelming at times. When you get behind on your schedule, it is no longer a fulfilling pleasure but a guilty accusation staring at you from your desktop. That is when I learned to pull out my new motto and say to myself:

Just do the next thing.

That saying has helped me for quite a few years. I finished homeschooling my last child seven years ago. My four children can read, write, and do math. They are responsible adults who love God. I think any items not checked off my many homeschooling and housekeeping schedules from that era are unimportant at this point. Doing the next thing got me through.

Sometime within the last few years, I heard someone (once again on the radio) say we should strive to do the next RIGHT thing. So, I added that to my motto, which became:

Just do the next right thing.

This motto has helped me through a different season of my life: a season characterized by the loss of several of my closest loved ones, including my husband. Some days I have been foggy and frozen:

Just do the next right thing.

Some days it is hard to figure out where to begin:

Just do the next right thing.

I will say that sometimes the hardest thing is to figure out what is the RIGHT thing. This keeps me praying and talking to God all day long, which is a good thing. With His help, I can figure out the next right thing to do.

Just within the last few weeks, God has been dealing with my heart to add two more words to my motto:

Just do the next right thing with joy.

Don’t do the next right thing out of habit or duty or with dread but with joy. What a difference that makes! I can adjust my thinking and choose joy, as I also choose to do the next right thing.

As the Apostle Paul said in Acts 20:24:

But none of these things move me, neither count I my life dear unto myself, so that I might finish my course with joy, and the ministry, which I have received of the Lord Jesus, to testify the gospel of the grace of God.

I want to run my race and finish my course with joy. I want to minister what I have received of the Lord Jesus with joy. I want to testify the Gospel with joy.

I have been dreading finishing some projects that I started two or more years ago. I got bogged down in them. I lost my joy over them. Has that ever happened to you?

I have decided to jumpstart these projects with the new motto God put on my heart:

Just do the next right thing with joy.

Doing the next right thing with joy has finally gotten me to the place where I have finished the second book in the Jesus Is A-Z series for kids. These books cover titles and adjectives of Jesus from A to Z. I really am joyful about this series as it shares with kids my love for Jesus and His amazingness.

You can find Jesus Is A-Z for Kids Book 2: I-P at my publisher, Lulu: Jesus Is A-Z Book 2: I-P - Lulu Or at Amazon, where you can read a small sample: Jesus Is A-Z Book 2: I-P - Amazon

• Has God called you to something that you feel unable to start?
• Have you started something that you feel unable to complete?
• Are you completing projects He has called you to do but without joy?

Try my motto:

Just do the next right thing with joy.

May God help you as you seek His will and do His work in His kingdom.

Blessings,
Annette Evans
AKA The Birthday Girl
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