Joyce wasn’t surprised when her young daughter asked to take ice skating lessons. She was shocked, however, when her 40-year-old husband decided to take the classes, too. After their first session, the daughter excitedly told her mom about the new moves she had learned - scissors and T-stops. "The T-stops are the hardest," she proclaimed.
"And what did you find the hardest?" Joyce asked her husband.
"The ice," he moaned. "The ice!"
Me, too! That’s why I no longer go flailing. (Most people call it skating. But when I do it, flailing is a better description.) I can do amazing tricks on skates - axels, toe loops, and salchows; I just never plan to do any of them. And my moves always end the same. I fall.
Ice is hard. Falling is no fun.
Falling in life is not fun either, but we all do. Most of us don’t have it caught on camera for the national news like politicians with prostitutes, or preachers and profanity in front of a live mic, or celebrities sinking in substance abuse. But even if you fall quietly, it still hurts.
What if you couldn’t fall? I mean, could not! Suppose somehow, no matter what you did, you just did not fall! Wouldn’t that be great! I know I’d go flailing again if I had that assurance. I would be trying triple axels and back flips and things people have never tried before. If you can’t fall, why not!
Unfortunately, that’s not possible with ice skating. There is someone, though, who promises that we can live without fear of falling in life. “Therefore, my brothers, be all the more eager to make your calling and election sure. For if you do these things, you will never fall” (2 Peter 1:10). Wow! Never fall! What a great way to live – with a guarantee of success.
In the previous verses in 2 Peter 1, you see a list of important spiritual characteristics that Peter says are necessary to enjoy this fall-free zone. We must add faith, goodness, knowledge, self-control, perseverance, godliness, brotherly kindness, and love to our lives. These things, put into practice, will make us fall-proof.
My best advice about ice skating? Don’t. Best advice for life? Add these virtues so yo