This writing comes from the safe and comfortable den in our home where I am enjoying a cup of Door County Autumn Spice Coffee. It won't be long until I break out the Christmas Season Flavors.
Our weather has been like a yo yo, up and down. Warm then cold, then colder with snow and then some drizzle and fog decide to invade our roads and sidewalks. This morning found me stepping outside with a cup of coffee to accompany one of our dogs while he visited the outdoors. Last night we entertained some sleet, then drizzle, then some fog. As always, I turned on the lights to the yard to scare away any coyotes that wander in and then Gibbs our oldest Springer Spaniel and I stepped out on to the sidewalk. I watched as my four legged buddy stepped off of the porch. His first step into the morning was greeted by a slide of all four legs. He recovered his direction immediately and proceeded slower. As Gibbs was stepping off of the porch I had placed my first foot onto an ice that couldn't even be seen. It was very thin and really wasn't visible. But I had a warning by witnessing the small slip from Gibbs. I stepped out gingerly and tested the walk. Had I been moving quickly I might has slipped and experienced a backside bruise. A little salt on the sidewalk solved that problem. Our puppy is visiting friends this week as I recover from eye surgery. ( All is going well) I could only imagine him with his puppy exuberance flying from the porch on to the sidewalk. It would have looked like Bambi on the ice.
All three of us are different. For one I am not a dog. There is a difference of two legs and four legs. Weight, height, and age are factors that make us different. Here is my point for the day. The slippery ice did not discriminate by age, ability, or race. It was dangerous to all of us. And friends I will say this again, it wasn't easy to see it at all. It crept right up on you.
Sin and bad attitudes which are the same thing, creep in on us and we really don't see it until it's too late. The two don't discriminate and they attack all of us equally, regardless of stature and rank. Before you know it, you are sliding into deeper messes and in some instances you fall before you change course. The fall from grace can hurt you and others. What seems like such a "not so bad thing' just gets more slippery and more slippery until you are in a free fall headed to nowhere good. For instance just missing church for really no good reason might impact the kids in the family. We show them by experience that church attendance can be opted out of and then they begin to justify their "not needing to go," by what you have OK'd for whatever reason. Or the two drinks after work and then driving home successfully under the limit of sobriety many times. But then just that one time, it seems OK to have the third drink which puts you over the sobriety limit. You are driving fine until someone else hits you car. Oops big fine, insurance issues and guilty written all over your face. Maybe you are crabby all the time and before you know it you have hurt others feelings and you wonder why you have to organize fun just to see people. If you didn't organize it, would they call you?
A slippery slope? You get my drift here. We all need to be aware of the hidden ice of sin and bad attitudes toward them. These same things can ruin a holiday faster than a dirty diaper at the dinner table.
So my friends we all are cable to be tempted and what seems harmless and easy to avoid, lingers until is causes issues. So follow this advice.
1 Corinthians 10:13 No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind. And God is faithful; He will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, He will also provide a way out that you so that you can endure it.
Seems easy???? Don't be lazy. Go to church. Learn to say no. Take a taxi. Pray for protection from our own foolishness. God gives us many ways out of the potential fall. It's best to follow the advice.
Be careful out there. It is slippery.
Marty
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