A guide to walking on ice

Snow is nice and soft to walk on. It's white and beautiful.

Water's not too bad either... It splashes but is easy to walk on cos it has no form.

But what happens when snow melts, and before the process is complete, the weather causes it to refreeze into ice? Ice is a whole new territory. Its hard, slippery and sometimes not clearly visible.

The past 2 days, I've been walking on ice a lot. And I discovered there are basically 3 solutions:

1. Don't walk at all. Go back to your room and just stay indoors for the whole day. Which I was so tempted to do when I slipped after taking only 2 steps out the door. But how long will you last in there? The winter's only beginning.

2. Get someone to carry you. But not everyone can and is willing to... And not everyone is heading for the same destination as you. There are paths you have to learn to walk alone.

3. Just move on ahead. Praying hard and trusting God to catch you. Also taking care by using common sense while you walk, so you won't fall too badly. Which is my choice.

As I walked, I realised that walking on ice is like walking through challenges in life. When you first face a challenge, natural human reaction is to want to escape it cos we don't want to fall and fail. But if you stop to think, most of the time, that will take you nowhere except back to where you have been. What's the point? On the other hand, if you pick choice 3, you'll realise there's so much out there to see and to learn, and so many more places you can go.

Firstly, it's only when you decide to walk on ice that you begin to experience God's presence and power over your life. When you slip, sometimes one foot after another, and with both hands in your pockets so they couldn't have helped you balance, yet you strangely never fall, as if someone supported your back and propped you back upright, there's nothing to say but, "Wow. Thank God!"

You'll also begin to appreciate the small, seemingly unimportant things around you. Like your firm foundation from a pair of good shoes. Like the little pebbles thrown on the stairs and pavements to help you get a grip (you'll be amazed by the power of these stones which seemed unnecessary and irritating in normal weather). Like the guy who drives the tractor and pushes most of the snow to the side each night, so the whole road and pavement won't be one big block of ice, but at most just small humps of ice. And even some things that you might not have seen visibly - the possibility of someone scattering salt on the ice and snow to prevent it from refreezing... These things all help you get to your destination with minimal heart-leaps and injury.

And you begin to appreciate the friends around you, who warn you not to walk on certain paths which they have tried and tested. Friends (and sometimes strangers) who grab your hand as you are about to fall and try to teach you how to walk better. Naturally, you begin to watch out for them too! Well, after all, many brains and experiences work better than one. And the idea is for all of you to arrive safely at each of your destinations.

One thing's for sure though: haste will get you nowhere except on the floor with 4 limbs towards the sky (it's a translated Chinese idiom). But if you really fall, well, get up! Yeah, you'll have to clean your clothes when you get back, but do continue walking... and try to use more common sense. Faith is not without reason. If there are better paths that will lead you to your destination anyway, don't go and purposely test the most difficult one. You don't have to prove to anyone that you can walk well on ice. There will be enough challenging paths to walk in life...

And most importantly, instead of sulking, enjoy the walk and the company of your friends walking with you! Plus be thankful for the grace of God that you have already walked a few metres or even a few hundred metres without falling! Sulking won't get you metres ahead, walking will (or new methods like sliding along sometimes), and laughing at yourself will make the journey so much easier!

Besides, the more you walk, the more skilled you get and the more developed your faith muscles will get -- to know that God is there to catch you. On the same road, you can now walk slightly faster, and you can conquer new terrains, like icy slopes and maybe even ice skating or skiing! One of the greatest satisfactions comes when the ice crushes beneath your feet too!

Walking on ice seems not so bad after all right! I can now only recall laughing with my friends at all our experiences and jumping on crushed ice. I'm so thankful as well, to realise that actually, I have not fallen down. Haha... so what do you think? Drop your comments! We all could do with some... After all, the winter's only beginning, I still have a lot of ice-walking to do and I'm sure all of you will get this chance to walk on ice at some point in your life!