When you live with the fear that one icy morning while
crossing the bridge on your walk to work, you’ll get nailed by a sliding car and go
flying over the railing and down to the tracks below—but you walk to work
anyway—is that courage or stupidity?
It’s been that kind of week. And it prompted me to
rewrite Silver Bells. Go ahead, sing along.
You know you wanna.
City sidewalks,
slippery slide walks
Iced in holiday
style
On the streets
there’s a feeling of danger.
Meeting pavement
and stone
And on every
street corner you fear…
Chorus:
Slippery falls,
slippery falls
It’s winter time
in the city
Ouchy ouch
I’m a grouch
Soon I’ll be
needing a cane.
Horns a-honking,
cars a-skidding
Through lights
bright red and green
As the shoppers
slide home with their treasures
Feel the sleet
punch, hear your bones crunch
For these
hazards you’ll pay
And above all
these death-traps you fear…
(Repeat chorus if you dare)
I never did fall, thanks in part to my
husband’s Yaktrax which may be ruining my boots. But at this stage of life, I
figure a pair of boots is cheaper than a broken limb. I was surprised by how
many people noticed my grippy fashion accessory and commented. What was far
less noticeable, but I’m certain as effective, was my guardian angel. When I
returned home on Tuesday, the slipperiest day of all, I received an email from Connie
Inglis who serves as the spiritual advisor for Inscribe Christian Writers Fellowship to which I belong. I’ve never met Connie, but she wrote to tell me
she prayed Psalm 91 for me that day.
Of course I looked it up. Among several
other promises about how God will keep his children safe from harm, are these words
in verses 11 and 12:
“He ordered his angels to
guard you wherever you go. If you stumble, they’ll catch you; their job is to
keep you from falling.” (The Message)
Good work, guys!
