Image: Melanie Kyer
The Next Right Thing
Chances are, there’s a child or grandchild in your life who was obsessed with the Disney musical “Frozen.” “Let it Go” was a whole mood in 2013. The sequel is slightly less well-known, but also has a few good songs. I caught it on TV a little while ago and found the theme strangely resonates right now.
As we navigate the trifecta of change: graduation season, political campaigning and of course the beginning of our rector’s sabbatical, the song “Into the Unknown” seems fitting. Queen Elsa is haunted by a feeling she can’t identify and tries to push away the sense that she needs to leave her comfortable life. She sings “I’m afraid of what I’m risking if I follow you.” It’s not a religious film, but I don’t think I’m stretching to say you could interpret the song as a call to listen for the spirit, even as it pulls us toward scary things.
While that song got more airplay, the one I keep coming back to (even though it makes me cry) is “The Next Right Thing.” It is Anna’s mournful lament as she tries to find the strength to go on after she thinks her sister has died: “How to rise from the floor when it’s not you I’m rising for” is a line that shakes me every time. The song is a masterful journey through depression after loss, but even if you’re not grieving, the title mantra is completely relatable: “Take a step, step again…stumbling blindly toward the light and do the next right thing.” The world can be big and overwhelming, especially right now when I’m trying to finish grading for the semester, deciding who to vote for in upcoming elections, and a myriad of other uncertainties. So I have to break it down to a breath, a prayer, and a step.
The next right thing.
May we all find it, even if it means a step into the unknown.
–Melanie Kyer
June 2026