Doing The Right Thing

Doing the right thing was easy in elementary school.

Share your toys. Turn in that lost sweater you found in the cafeteria to the lost and found. Do your homework. Don’t bite the other kids in class.

Simple. Easy. At least most of it was. Things are a little different now.

Doing the right thing now means making hard decisions; decisions I was hoping I could dodge, delay or ignore.

Doing the right thing means swallowing that big ol’ pill labeled pride, even though chugging a glass full of Pepto Bismol seems like a more enjoyable experience.

Doing the right thing means letting go of things I never really wanted to let go of, accepting that some things a lot of things are out of my control.

Doing the right thing means extending grace -- letting go of my right to be offended and angry and truly forgiving people, just as I’ve been forgiven for my own missteps.

Doing the right thing means saying "I was wrong. I'm sorry. Will you forgive me?"

Doing the right thing means owning up to the decisions (or non-decisions) and mistakes I’ve made and accepting the consequences that come with them.

Doing the right thing means staying put even though everything in me wants to run away. Or, on the flip side, stepping aside when I need to get out of the way. And knowing which option is the appropriate one.

Doing the right thing means rejoicing with those who are rejoicing, even though I don’t feel like rejoicing with them at all.

Doing the right thing means forfeiting comfort so that others might experience comfort for the first time.

Doing the right thing is somehow different now… it isn’t always going to be as obvious as not kicking the kid sitting next to me in kindergarten and stealing his crayons.

Doing the right thing isn’t as easy as it used to be. Sometimes it’s the hardest thing, because it requires me to surrender my own feelings, my own desires and my very self. It takes honor to do the right thing. It takes sacrifice. It takes courage.

And there's usually no expiration date on doing the right thing. It'll make itself known and then kind of sit there in our lives, waiting for us to act on it. If we don't, we can go weeks, months or years with the "right thing" weighing down on us.  

I have a choice. We all do. We can do the right thing, whatever that might look like in the circumstances we find ourselves in, or avoid it. 

I hope I choose to do right, even when it’s hard. Especially when it’s hard.