05/15/2026
Have you ever stepped outside on a clear, crisp, brilliantly sunny winter day to enjoy a walk? As you stride forward and take the first deep breaths of outdoor air, your eyes are lifted upwards as your body moves into a walking rhythm. All of a sudden, your feet are no longer where you placed them and you are down on the frozen ground with pain richocheting around your body and your gaze now ruefully examining the hidden patch of ice that your feet unerringly found. The day turns cloudy, the cold deepens, and you huddle down inside your sweater with a scowl as you contemplate how to get back up again. You slipped. Your day is completely changed. Your life may have just completely changed. What happened?
Slipping on ice feels very much like slipping up on your daily conversations with God. Once habits are broken by casually allowing other activities to start gnawing away at your time with the Lord, your feet start down a path riddled with hidden patches of black ice. The ice that is invisible until you slip, and then, it is too late.
One morning, you hit the snooze button on your alarm and sleep right through your morning Bible study. No big deal, you think, I'll do it this afternoon. Your schedule does not rise to the occasion and the afternoon flies by. Then, it is night and you are so tired from all the other activities that you mumble some night prayers, apologize to the Lord for missing your morning chat, and fall into bed. One day can't really hurt, can it?
The next day, you stride out into your daily schedule like the winter walk, full of confidence in your own organization, planning, and dedication. Rather than getting up early, I'll just make more time for the Lord later in the day when I am more fully awake and can be more focused you think. Again, life steps in and gradually, your prayer routine falls in to a chasm. No problem, you think. As soon as life calms down and I am more organized, I will re-carve out time for the Lord. Until then, I'll just pray on the fly as different situations arise around me. Sound good Lord? I thought this up myself. Let's do this.
Each day, you stride forth into the winter beauty, congratulating yourself on your most excellent time management skills and wondering if perhaps you were spending too much time in prayer before. Life can be lived just as easily, and more quickly, by praying when you need the Lord, rather than sitting at His feet day after day, the back of your mind wondering how many times you need to read the same Gospel stories. As suddenly as a slip on black ice occurs, your life begins to tumble down around you and you find yourself without the spiritual wherewithal to think of a thing to do. In fact, in this time of crisis, your first reaction is to rely on your own understanding and resources.
The distance that has grown between you and the Lord has created selective deafness to His whisperings as the stress of new challenges leaves you in a crumpled heap on the ice. As the internal panic begins to subside, a gentle voice permeates the storm in your mind and body; "Return to me, and I will return to you" (Malachi 3:7). With perfect clarity, you hear and reflect, realizing how a small change in your relationship led you to an abyss of fear, chaos, and pain on the ice of life. With a soft smile, He reaches down to help you up and leads you along the path with a strong and sturdy arm to lean on. How could you have let go of this relationship, the relationship that makes all other activities in life pale in comparison? Turn back your heart and He will find you. Turn back your heart and He will speak to you. Turn back your gaze and He will lead you. All it takes is a choice.
"...For the Lord your God is gracious and merciful and will not turn away his face from you, if you return to him" (2 Chronicles 30:9).
"Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight" (Proverbs 3:5-6).
Need help getting up off the ice? Join New Hope Methodist Church this Sunday at 10am at Lake Guntersville for a service on the river. (1901 Sunset Drive, Guntersville)
