We are having a very slippery winter.
Some stretches of field and park are smooth with ice and
slippery as skating rinks. The danger is obvious and visible. But as we embark
on daily walks, with our driveway and the road clear of ice, the temptation is
to grow complacent, trusting in our own sure-footedness on textured surfaces.
A few hundred yards down the road, though, there is a
notorious low spot which consistently floods, and has sat underwater now for
several weeks. Alongside the flooded road, the verges crouch in shadow, frozen
white with ice, the grass stiff and treacherous. Hidden dangers.
It is easy to set off confidently, trusting in my own sure
steps and the clean surface. Easy to dismiss the possibility of suddenly
reaching a patch of black or white ice underfoot, and the threat that comes
with it.
As I walk into this new week, help me to trust not in my own
eyes but in your guidance, God, so that my feet do not slip, my thoughts do not
stray onto the iciness of negativity and fear, leading to brokenness and
calamity. Even as I keep my eyes fixed on you, Lord, make me aware of potential
pockets of ice which might undermine my well-being.
The world struggles to keep its footing during the deadly
slipperiness of this pandemic. God encourages us in Psalm 91: ‘You will not
fear the terror of night, nor the arrow that flies by day, nor the pestilence
that stalks in the darkness, nor the plague that destroys at midday.’
May we all dwell in the shelter of the Most High today,
resting in the shadow of the Almighty, confident in him. A slippery winter can
be a time of beauty, if approached with God.
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