Gratitude Day 281

Wed., June 5, 2019

Matthew 11:29-30 – (Jesus said) “Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”

I have the most creative husband. He never ceases to amaze me with what he comes up with to fix a potential problem. Here’s a case in point.

We’re adding a master bathroom to our house. Previously in this space was a small kitchen. At one point, our house was set-up as two apartments; one upstairs and one downstairs. This is why there was a little kitchen on the second floor.

Our goal has always been to restore the home to a single-family dwelling. As we decided what to do with our upstairs, we felt creating a special master bedroom suite made sense. So, Rick ripped out the kitchen, moved a couple walls and made space for a master bathroom. He also built a closet for a washer and dryer.

While I love to take baths, our plumber convinced us that putting in a nice larger shower stall was the way to go. I decided to use a little nicer tile and materials in this area. Rick and I talked at great length about whether he felt comfortable taking on this project. While he knew it would require expanding his skillset, he really wanted to do it. He’s used the school of hundreds of Youtube videos to learn more about building and installing the shower. Of course, these videos don’t always agree on what is the best way to go about doing something.

I picked out a larger porcelain tile that I wanted run vertically in the shower along with an accent glass tile that we would put in the middle of the back wall of the shower. Rick has previously installed shower tile … but nothing this big and with a whole new floor base as well. He carefully decided what the best way to do all of this was.

After the shower floor tile were installed, he began working on the walls. I was gone the day he put up the first tiles. When I got home, naturally the first place I would go was to see the progress in the bathroom.

Imagine my surprise when I walked in and saw all of these boards supporting and bracing the installed tile. Hubby Rick had designed a maze of support boards to make sure the tile would stick to the wall.

It was rather ingenious. However, when I’ve seen shower tile installed on HGTV, I’ve never seen them use these types of support boards. I’m just saying …

Rick admits that this has become a much bigger project than he anticipated. Possibly he bit off more than he could chew. He changed his method for installing the tile a bit and after this, the tile went up much more like he envisioned.

I must give Rick credit for coming up with a way to make sure the tile would stay on the wall. His bracing system may look a little crazy and question if the tile were applied correctly. Yet, his thought process of making sure the tile would stay on? Creative.

As Christians, there are days when we need a little help bracing ourselves up. When doing it alone is really more than we can handle. Where extra support makes all the difference in the world. If you’ve had one or more of those types of days lately, what braces you up? What supports you? When you’ve lost control and can no longer do it alone or by yourself, where do you turn to for extra support?

We can and should enlist help from friends and family. We can look for a little different approach, like Rick did with the tile. Most importantly, we are to turn to  

God can creatively shore us up and make sure we have the tools necessary to make the best decisions possible.

Jesus was very clear when he told the disciples, “Don’t go it alone. Take my burden upon you and together, we’ll make it through.

We’ll make it through the financial crisis we are in. The health issue will somehow be resolved. The disagreement will subside over time. Too often, I witness others (including myself) try to work through something on our own versus calling upon God’s help in this department.

Maybe the purposes for Rick’s braces were simply to be a reminder for me to brace myself up with the Lord when life gets full, busy and distracting. My biggest make sense

I don’t know what’s going on in your life today. I don’t know if you feel burdened or distracted or overwhelmed. Whatever it is? Enlist God to bring a sweetness to your life. Let God’s yoke help you journey through this time before.

FYI – The shower is coming along nicely. The braces are gone. I’ll show more pictures after we have it completed.

For God’s yoke that years for us to ask for help, I am grateful.

Holy God – thanks for all the unique and beautiful plants that graze our areas. May they encourage us to celebrate life on a daily basis. Amen.

Blessings –

Dianne

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