The Next Right Thing
by R.M.

I have recently begun to be thankful for my past and how what I have learned in the physical world relates to the spiritual life.

My father and grandfather both worked in the steel mills. My grandfather was a steam engine operator and repair man. His previous experience included everything from policeman to dairy operator. We helped him build a number of buildings on the small farm that he owned. He also made primitive furniture and he is the one that got me started on woodworking.

My dad also farmed a small farm and built all the buildings including some of our houses where I was raised. He also worked on all the machinery, including the cars, to keep everything running. I often would help him work on the cars, which was the start of me working on cars. I would help him adjust the brakes by turning the tires while he adjusted the tension. (Modern brakes are now self-adjusting.) I also remember helping him rebuild engines. In the process, I learned how mechanical equipment worked. One of the things I remember doing was to take apart wind-up clocks. If a wind-up clock is wound too tight, it stops running. If you can take apart the clock and release the main spring, the clock can be rewound and used. Otherwise the clock is thrown out because it is not functional. The trick was to release the main spring without breaking it or having it "explode." I remember when I wanted to learn how to use my grandfather’s wood lathe, he gave me a few verbal instructions and basically said "try it." This method of instruction resulted in an attitude of figure out a way to make it work.

This was my training ground, but how dies this experience relate to our message of Christ in our form? For me, it relates to a store that Page Prewitt tells aobut cleaning her house. Cleaning the house seemed overwhelming, but she could at least pick up on epair of socks and put them away. When I am confronted with a maintenance problem that I have not experienced before, I do the same. Christ by me can take the first step and then the next. A recent example was a heater in one of the motel rooms at the Alpen Acres. I had no clue why the heater was not working. I first checked the thermostat to see if there was a click when turning up the heat. There was, so the next step was to remove the grill from the heater. When I did this, I could see the blower system. Then I could check the wiring to the blower motor to determine if there was power to the system. There was no apparent reason for the motor not to run. Upon further inspection, there was a heat sensor on the hot water coil, which operates as a low temperature cut off so it does not blow cold air if the coil is not hot. I thought that the sensor might be defective, so I bypassed it to see if the blower would run. It did. The low temperature cut off was not necessary for the operation of the heater, so I left the sensor out of the circuit and put the grill back in place and the heater was functional.

Another example was a pen that a friend gave me to fix. His words were, this pen is very important to me because my daughter gave it to me and it does not work. I remember a moment of panic thinking that I could not fix it. But, I said that I could at least unscrew the top and see what was inside. I did and found that the refill cartridge was loose and needed to be tightened. I reassembled the pen and it was OK.

Our spirit life is the same. God is constantly showing us the next right thing to do/believe. When we take that step, He shows us the next and the next. (He who is faithful in a very little thing is faithful also in much.) He never overwhelms us by giving us the big picture at one time. Faith is built by starting with the little thing, believing for that, then believing for the next little thing which builds into much.