Your Most Important Step is the Next One

These are anxious times.  More people I know express anxiety and uncertainty about their lives and the world than at any other time I can remember.  I have been struggling to find some words that capture some counsel that makes sense. I think I found it in the words of Michelle Williams, who has a word for those who find themselves in the “hell” that life so often seems to be.

Ms. Williams is a “character actor”, playing smaller but critical roles in movies.  She is in the news again for her portrayal in Manchester by the Sea. The role attracted Ms. Williams because of the character’s bravery. She said, “The thing that moved me about her wasn’t her sadness….It was her bravery that moved me to tears. To think about somebody who could do that-because if it happened to me I wouldn’t be so brave.” (Source: WSJ., “The Real Deal”, by Leslie Bennetts, February 2017)  Ms. Williams’ performance is informed by her own suffering, as she endures the pain in her life.  She separated from her husband and the father of her child after two years of marriage, and then he died of a drug overdose.  Ms. Williams has been for nearly a decade a single parent for her eleven year old daughter, balancing work, buying groceries and school schedules.  Her past haunts her and bedevils her. As she says, “The past-you might be done with it, but it’s not done with you.”

What most impresses me is how Ms. Williams deals with the insecurity, the anxiety, the losses that surround those few moments on screen or receiving acting awards. In describing her attempts to recover from her broken heart following her husband’s death, even these many years later, she says, “I’m still thinking-it’s never really over. But there’s more time in between the waves. They still break over you, but you have more time to swim and catch your breath.”  And the toughest lesson she has learned is this: “When you find yourself in hell, the best thing to do is keep going….Don’t stop. Put one foot in front of the other. The territory keeps changing, but it won’t change if you sit down. Keep moving.”

I think that those words sum up how to confront these anxious times. They will become a permanent part of my counsel to the broken who are trying to survive these anxious times.  If you feel like you are in “hell”, don’t sit down. Take the next step.  Faith is all about finding  a way to escape the descent into hell and rising again into new life.  Your most important step, friends, is the next one