Slip Sliding Away
07 Feb 2011 Leave a Comment
With so much ice and snow accumulating for the past couple of weeks, the song “Slip Sliding Away” by Simon and Garfunkel (1977) pops into my mind every time I try to walk outside or drive around now. There’s nothing worse than an ice storm leaving a layer of ice, then snow on top of that ice, then sun melting that snow to form another layer of smooth ice. I should have learned to ice skate!
But the lyrics of this song isn’t really talking about slip sliding on ice though. It’s talking about the communication that needs to happen but never does because as the person gets close to that moment, they turn around and “slip sliding away.” It’s sad really. So many relationships are broken (and left broken) because people don’t talk for fear of either rejection, or the pain they have to face to get through it. If only they can see how much better things can be, when misunderstanding and misconceptions are exposed, and they can truly communicate heart to heart. But instead, they hold on to the misconception and continue to live in fear and insecurity.
I want to always have the courage to face my fears and look at the truth, for the sake of building and improving relationships, especially with my own husband and children. And the same goes for my relationship with God too. I’d rather be vulnerable with Him and come to know what He’s really like, than to continue believing in what others tell me He’s like. Life is too short to be wasted living crippled by miscommunication and misunderstanding. It’s much more free and rewarding to live in truth, no matter how much it hurts, or how risky it is.
Slip Sliding Away
By Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel
Slip sliding away, slip sliding away
You know the nearer your destination, the more you slip sliding away
Whoah and I know a man, he came from my hometown
He wore his passion for his woman like a thorny crown
He said dolores, I live in fear
My love for you’s so overpowering, Im afraid that I will disappear
Chorus
I know a woman, (who) became a wife
These are the very words she uses to describe her life
She said a good day ain’t got no rain
She said a bad day is when I lie in the bed
And I think of things that might have been
Chorus
And I know a father who had a son
He longed to tell him all the reasons for the things he’d done
He came a long way just to explain
He kissed his boy as he lay sleeping
Then he turned around and he headed home again
Chorus
Whoah God only knows, God makes his plan
The informations unavailable to the mortal man
We’re workin our jobs, collect our pay
Believe we’re gliding down the highway, when in fact we’re slip sliding away
Chorus repeats 2x
