Curling and the Bible

Ah Friday, glad to see you!

After two weeks of a bad dose of the cold, I’ve spent a substantial amount of my Friday morning lounging on the sofa watching the women’s curling semi finals. #winter Olympics #hardluckGB

Looks like bowling to me only more fun with all that sliding about on the ice although you’d think for the Olympics they would have bowling shoes that were even just a little less ugly but no. I do envy the shoulder strength those girls must have - impressive brush skills. Wonder how you learn to do that? I did wonder out loud on Twitter whether someone might be available to speed brush the rest of my day for me - me being the heavy lump of granite sliding to a dead halt. (Turns out the scoring zone in curling is called the ‘house’. Happy coincidence, my sofa is right in the middle. I win.)

A wishful thought crossed my mind. Wouldn’t it be nice to have someone glide through life right beside you, start to finish, brushing the path energetically like the curlers do.

Oh, now that is a thought! Maybe we do.

Out of sheer curiosity, I typed into Google, ‘biblical references to smoothing the way.’

Result.

Isaiah 26:7 ‘But for those who are righteous, the way is not steep and rough. You are a God who does what is right, and you smooth out the path ahead of them.’ (NLT) 

I did a Google search on curling too.

According to the World Curling Federation website, ‘sweeping with a brush...reduces the friction between the ice and the stones surface.’ It also ‘creates a thin layer of water that helps the stone glide across the surface, allowing the stone to continue momentum in its intended direction.’

It’s an image worth pausing for. We’ve all got things on our minds that are causing us to worry, things that are creating friction and tension. Someone is right beside us, doing what is needed to help us go in the right direction, working out the friction, smoothing out the way.

It may not feel terribly smooth to us a lot of the time but God always does what is right. Sometimes the curlers don’t brush the ice. Sometimes a bit of friction is needed. God does what it takes to get us to his house.

I realise that in relation to life this is all very simplified but the essence of truth is there is it not? I also realise that I’ve just written another stone related story! Must be my subconscious doing the work for me?

Enjoy watching the women’s curling finals.