One Tile at a Time

(Go visit my sistah, Linda for more on the Beth Moore Believing God bible study)

When we were helping do the installation of our tile floors, and walls in the bathroom, I remember being so frustrated.
After we spread on the grout, my job was to wipe the tile clean and make sure the grout stayed in the lines where it was supposed to.

Well, I would begin by wiping one tile, but I would see this other one, two rows over, that needed my attention. So I would leave the first tile and go clean the new one. My job never seemed to get done because I was always seeing another spot I needed to clean and leave my original tile.

Frustrating!

Rod said, "Relax. Just do one tile at a time. Then you'll finish."

Eureka! He is a Rocket Surgeon!

We have used the saying "One tile at a time" for any situation where our focus gets off track.

In week four of our Believing God bible study this week, Beth Moore (does anyone ever call her just Beth?) brought up Enoch as a great example of someone who did "One tile at a time." He focused on walking with God.

One step at a time.

One day at a time.

I love that. It makes me heave a big sigh and just relax.
One tile at a time.

I don’t mean to say that I have already achieved these things or that I have already reached perfection. But I press on to possess that perfection for which Christ Jesus first possessed me. No, dear brothers and sisters, I have not achieved it, but I focus on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead, I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us. Phil.3:12-14

PS: Just got a thought provoking email about this week's study from my sistah-in-law, Brenda, who (GASP!) has no blog. So I thought I'd help the girlfriend out and put it here. Enjoy!:

Loved this week. It started off with the "diagram of self esteem", I call it. If any of us still have those issues....see the diagram again! Then the discussion of our sins and rebelliousness...because I relate everything to parenting, of course it is easy to get just a glimpse of how God see us, when we look at our kids. But, my "WOW" from this week had to be reading about Noah on day 3. Maybe it is because I am an animal lover, but I have always been a fan of the story of Noah. When really examining it....reading that he was the ONLY righteous man on the EARTH, that ALL others were filled with EVIL! I was awed. I thought about how many righteous people I know in my neighborhood, city, state and so on. Yet, Noah had no one on earth to encourage him or support him with the iron sharpening iron kinda thing. Sometimes, even with other Christian parents, I feel alone in my decisions to not let my kids watch certain things, say and/or do certain things. So I receive lots of guff (yeah, I'll call it that) from my kids and kids friends parents), even though I KNOW that my decision is the best for them and they will understand later.....hopefully...and they just need to trust me. But, I can probably find a few friends to back me, support me etc. Noah had NO-ONE ,yet remained faithful, to the extent that he undertook a project that would bring constant negative attention on himself....building a boat....not a cloud in the sky.....no rain...no chance. What great faith. God made his first covenant in the BIBLE with Noah. What was so special about Noah..his belief in God...his walk with God...his active participle life? We could all be Noah's.....(I want all the pairs of animals--2 pairs of my favorites :-0 ) It is all about the WALK/FAITH. God already made me a potential Noah. I am keeping me from being a Noah. When I am walking with God, the strength of this World lacks importance, my thoughts do not dwell on my past transgressions/inadequacies and I rest in the middle of my diagram of who God says I am.