The Slippery Slopes of Life

This past weekend, myself, my wife, and my daughter went hiking through a canyon in Starved Rock State Park in Illinois shortly after a rainstorm.  Parts of the hike were muddy because of the rain.  At one point, to avoid the mud, we veered off the beaten path to higher ground where it was slightly dryer.  Several minutes later, I was trapped on the high ground and the only way back to the trail was down a sharp incline that was obviously very wet and muddy – a slippery slope!  With some help of several younger hikers, I began my descent.  Of course, my feet slipped out from under me and a few seconds later, I found myself back on the trail but in a seated position.  Needless to say, my back side was caked in mud from waste to shoe, as you can see from the accompanying photo.  No worries … my wallet was secure.  As we continued our hike, we couldn’t have cared less about whether we stepped in mud or not.

Today, I’m thinking about how life today is sometimes a slippery slope.  There often is a lot of mud and muck to navigate through.  We try to avoid it, and some of the time we may even be successful.  However, there often comes a time when we make so many mistakes that we find ourselves on a precipice surrounded by sinful pleasures and no choice but to succumb to the slippery slope at our feet.  It is then that we become caked with mud and feel utterly hopeless.  But there is good news!  You can find your way back home where a bathtub awaits and all the muck and mud can be washed away.  It is then that we feel refreshed and once again ready to fight the evil world.

I hope you see the metaphors in the above paragraph.  The muck and mud are the occasions of sin.  We start thinking we can avoid them, and sometimes maybe we even do.  However, there comes a time when an occasion of sin becomes so tempting and our willingness to avoid it is gone.  That is when we sit down and slide down the slippery slope.  It is then that we feel so guilty and so despaired that we feel nothing can save us.  But, of course, this is not true.  The bathtub awaits.  Jesus, in the person of the priest, is sitting in the confessional waiting for you with his special soap and water.  And when you confess your sins, your are refreshed beyond belief.  "Go and sin no more" is Jesus' advice to us.  That means we must promise to avoid the occasions of sin.  It is not easy.  But when the rainy day comes, and you know there most certainly is mud and muck in the canyon, don't go there!  Avoid it!  You will feel much better about yourself and won't have an immediate need for the bathtub ... at least until the next slippery slope shows itself at your feet and you have no choice but to slide down!  It is then that you must learn the lesson all over again.