Article July 19, 1913 Issue

DOING THE NEXT THING

JOSEPH B. BAKER.

The next thing is all that we have to do. In every juncture we can always find and take the very next step, though it may be a short one. It is enough to give attention to the things of the present, which is ours for right thinking and right doing. We do not have either to review the past or to go into the future; such unprofitable thoughts are not legitimate burdens upon man. If we practically acknowledge God's ever-presence, we shall put off such mortal bondage, and then find that the resources which we already know to be ours are ample to deal with the lessened problem. Doing the next thing with the whole heart, free from shadows of the past and fears for the future, is concentration and consecration; it is being alive in that consciousness of good which is life eternal. He who has thus freed and purified his thought is equipped to win in the race. He is minding his business by welcoming each instant the messengers of God, "God's thoughts," which our Leader teaches us "are perfect and eternal, are substance and Life" (Science and Health, p. 286); and is watchfully and obediently entertaining them in consciousness.

Doing the next thing opens the way. There is only one step to be taken at a time, and he who with clear vision purged of self examines every thought to determine whether it be from God, can take this next step, setting foot on firm ground, whither divine Truth bids him come, though to mortal sense—pride, prejudice, convertion, tradition—it may seem but yielding water. One step taken, he is ready for further guidance, and strong to follow it.

Let us not despise the little steps, for each one, taken cheerfully and promptly, constitutes that moment's obedience to our Father. Taken in the forward direction, it makes for progress, and it places us in continual readiness to do His will, because it advances us just to the point where He would find us. Each step, taken in loving understanding of divine guidance, excluding all intimations that would turn us aside, leads us by the law of Love to opportunities of service and to means of fulfilling them, to the possession of those things which it hath not "entered into the heart of man" to conceive.

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