How we view Ice (and sin)

This week has caused me to reflect a bit on how we see life when we are in precarious situations. We're having icing and some snow in most places in Kiev.  When you add the ice to the packed snow around our apartment, you really have a mess!  When you head into Kiev with all the marble and cobble stone, you can find many slippery places.  We've learned that you need to watch what the Ukranians do and learn from them (most of the time).  Watch where they walk, how they walk and you can learn to avoid slipping. 

But, I realized that many of the people I was watching head to the Metro this morning were approaching the ice in different ways.  At first, I noticed those who were taking small footsteps, walking very slowing and carefully.  (That's how I would be walking.)  Then there were others that made sure they always had one foot on the ground.  (My friend Dalese walks on one foot and drags the other to make sure she always has a foot hold.)  But, I also noticed some walking rather briskly right through the middle of the sidewalk where it was the heaviest in ice.  They had hands in their pockets so they had no way of catching themselves when and if they slipped.  I even saw a few people taking a few steps and deliberately sliding the next few as if they were enjoying it.  Ice is dangerous!  Here no one removes it at all.  They just find their personal way of walking on it or through it and they do nothing to remove it.

Aren't we the same way with sin?  Haven't we learned that some temptations are like slippery slopes for us?  We know that when certain conditions are present in our lives, we have to make some deliberate choices.  Will we walk carefully through that temptation without falling?  Will we let the sin cause us to slow down letting only one foot lead us while part of us drags behind (probably our hearts)?  Or do we just decide that temptation doesn't need to be handled seriously and we just slide along with the temptation = deliberately at times!

Praise God that He came to remove that which causes us to slip and stumble into temptation!  All of us will be tempted in some way - whether you want to admit it or not.  The question is - what will we do with that icy temptation when it comes?