For today’s gift to you on this 9th day of Christmas, I want to share a resource that was shared with me last year. After seeing Frozen II, I said something on Facebook about appreciating the song “The Next Right Thing.” Yes, I know; it’s a song from a kids’ movie. But it struck a chord with me. For a variety of reasons, sometimes we are at a loss for what to do. We get overwhelmed. Stuck. Scared. Depressed. Fatigued.
A friend of mine told me about a podcast that discusses this. I had never really jumped on the podcast bandwagon. Mainly because I didn’t actually know how to access them. I thought you had to pay money or subscribe to services for them. But many podcasts are available for free on the author’s website.
Emily P. Freeman’s podcast, aptly named “The Next Right Thing,” was around before the Frozen song came to be, although I may not have ever discovered it if it weren’t for the song. I have listened to several of the podcasts and receive her newsletter. They are encouraging, inspiring, and practical in their lessons on how to overcome what she calls “decision fatigue.” I actually haven’t listened to any for several months, but I have thought of her wisdom several times during this pandemic. When I feel “frozen” in place (sorry, couldn’t help it) by moral dilemmas we’re all facing right now, I think of the song and the podcast, and I think to myself, “What is the next thing I can do?” Most of the time it’s something very mundane, like washing the dishes. But that simple action gets me un-stuck, and moves me forward to the bigger things I need to do.
Here is a link to Ms. Freeman’s website. You can listen to her podcast for free by clicking on the “Listen here on my website” button. Enjoy! I will probably start listening to them again myself, as well. Goodness knows I need to. These are tough times.
For today’s prayer, please consider praying for the Uighur people in China. They are being held in detention camps in an attempt to suppress their culture, and worse. Please hear me correctly- I love the country of China in general and the people there, and I do not want anyone thinking badly of everyday Chinese people for this (like the antagonistic treatment Asian-Americans have been receiving here due to the Coronavirus). But I do not condone what the government is doing to this people group. It is horrifying. Thank you for joining me in prayer for this.
The Compass Rose Queen 
I personally loved that song in frozen at how well it broached the topic of loss, heartbreak and feelings of depression and despair while giving a realistic way to cope and handle it without getting too dark for kids. Kids can experience really hard emotions too and usually don’t know how to identify them let alone handle them in a healthy way and I was super impressed with how Frozen somewhat did that with that song.