When you go outside…be aware. Watch out for sneaky ice. You know what sneaky ice is, don’t you? Let me tell you how it appears. It comes after a good snow like we just had. One that doesn’t blow really bad but gives the ground a good cover. Your grass is fully covered and so is your driveway and sidewalks. During the day it warms up just enough for a little thawing before freezing during the night.
This ice only appears in the early morning. It creeps out from under the snow and spreads thinly over the pavement. It is hard to see because it is so clear and just a very thin layer. You never know it is there until it’s too late. Like this morning I was leaving for work, reached into my pickup from the passenger side and started the truck, then stepped down the driveway for the newspaper. That is when it got me. I bent down to pick up the paper, stepped on some of that sneaky ice that had crept out from under the snow, and found my feet above my head, arms in the air, and butt on the ground.
For a young person that might not have been very traumatic but for a not so young person it hurt, not only my rear but my pride also. My first reaction, even before the pain soaked in, was to look up and down the street to see if anyone was watching and then to get my feet back under me before anyone drove by. Isn’t it interesting how being seen in an embarrassing situation trumps hitting the pavement?
Life is like that. We do things then look around to see if anyone is watching. Or we make a comment then wonder who else might have heard us. Dad once told me when I was growing up, “Don’t say something that you wouldn’t want published on the front page of the paper in the morning.” In the movie Bambie, Thumper gave the world good advice when he said, “If you can’t say something nice…don’t say nothing at all.”
Paul, when writing to Timothy, in I Timothy chapter 4, gave this encouragement, “Train yourself to be Godly…Godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come.” He instructed Timothy to, “set an example…in speech, in life, in love, in faith, and in purity.” Paul closed that passage of instruction to Timothy with, “Watch your life and doctrine closely.”
When we do or say something questionable and look around to make sure no one was watching we forget that God is always watching. And He is not watching to catch us in something wrong but He is watching over us. Psalm 32:8 reads, “I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you and watch over you.” Psalm 121 is a short psalm (only 8 verses) about God’s watchfulness over his people. The psalm begins with, “I lift up my eyes to the hills—where does my help come from? My help comes from the Lord, the maker of heaven and earth. He will not let your foot slip—he who watches over you will not slumber…” I should have read this passage before I walked out on the ice.
Unlike the new song “PANTS ON THE GROUND” I have a new song called “FEET IN THE AIR”. Watch your step…in more ways than one.
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