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I'm Emily P. Freeman, and welcome to The Next

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Right Thing. You're listening to Episode

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306. I'm

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an author, a spiritual director, and an

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occasional workshop leader. I live

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in the Piedmont of North Carolina with my

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family, and through my work, I've helped thousands

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of spiritually thoughtful people overcome decision fatigue so

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that they can discern their next right

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thing in faith, in work, and in

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life. Today, I need

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to slow down for just a few minutes to

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take a breath, to take a beat, here

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in the middle of December, and so I want

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to offer you a 4-minute and 38-second meditation for

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being okay. It's

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from one of the Advent collections in the Quiet Collection app

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called Compassion. It's track 8, named

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simply, Okay. As

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you listen, if it seems the

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music was written just for these words, it's

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because it was. Caleb

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Peavey sat down at his piano, listened

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to my voice, and wrote music in

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real time. It's an unbelievable

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gift, and he did that for every

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track in all of the Advent collections.

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What you're about to hear is one of the simpler

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ones, like I said just 4-1-2 minutes long, but

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it's one I personally return to over

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and over again. Listen

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in. Your

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spirit, to be out of your sight. If

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I climb to the sky, you're

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there. If

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I go underground, you're

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there. If

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I flew on morning's wings to

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the far western horizon, you'd

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find me in a minute. You're

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already there waiting. Then

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I said to myself, oh, he

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even sees me in the dark. At

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night, I'm immersed in the light. It's

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a fact. Darkness

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isn't dark to you. Night

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and day, darkness and

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light. They're all

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the same to you. Psalm

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139, 7 to 12. Thanks

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be to God. As

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we roll down the hill of December, the

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only place to land is in a new

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year. Beneath

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our grown-up questions about the bills

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and rebuilding, about 401ks

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and future expenses, about

3:18

vocation and social justice and

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family dynamics and taking care

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of children and grandchildren

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and all the questions

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we're responsible to at

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least hold if not to solve.

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We're also asking a simpler

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question we can't solve on

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our own. Like, are

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we going to be okay? It's

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a childlike question that

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runs like a quiet river in our

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souls beneath the terrain

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of our everyday lives. Sometimes

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it feels like everything has to be

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okay and there's no room left

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for our pain. Other

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times it seems like nothing

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will ever be okay and

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there's no room left for our hope. What

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if we welcomed this tiny

4:25

revolutionary idea of

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being okay just for now? In

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this right now, right

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here, moment of listening,

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of stillness, of

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waiting for the light, right

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now just here. We

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are okay. What

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if Advent isn't just about waiting for

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Jesus to be born later, but

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waiting in the silence for how Christ

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lives now and now and

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now? Even

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when I'm not okay, in

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this moment of waiting and listening, I am

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okay. The

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longer we pause, the

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longer it's true. If

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I flew on morning's wings to the

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far western horizon, you'd find me

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in a minute. You're

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already there. waiting. Thanks

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for listening to episode 306 of The

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Next Great Thing. If

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you want access to this and

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29 other original reflections for Advent,

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you can download the Quiet Collection app on your

6:32

iOS or Android device. The app

6:34

itself is free to download, and once

6:37

you have it, there's some free content

6:39

immediately available inside. Once

6:41

you're there, you can purchase all three Advent collections at

6:43

a discount, or you can get just one of them.

6:46

Again, today's reflection is from Compassion,

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and there are two other collections available

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as well, Hope and Love. We

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make it easy to listen all in

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one place, and we also now have

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a one-stop shop way to send one

7:00

or all of these collections as a

7:02

gift right inside the app. So if

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you're wondering what to give that person

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who has everything one week before Christmas,

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all you have to do is have your

7:11

recipient's name and email address, and we'll do

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the rest by sending them an email from

7:15

us with instructions and a special code for

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them to redeem the collection that you choose

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for them. Visit thequietcollection.com

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to have all your questions answered

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and pay particular attention to the

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bottom of the page where there's

7:28

some FAQs, and you can get

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started today. With just one

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week left until Christmas, if you get

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the Advent Collection Bundle that has all

7:37

three collections included, then you'll have a

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reflection to listen to morning, noon,

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and night every day until Christmas. I'll

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be back next week to share What

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Worked in 2023, always an

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informative episode every year, but

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until then, I hope you have a

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life-giving week. Thanks

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for listening, and I'll see you next time.