Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the road is
easy that leads to destruction, and there are many who take it.
For the gate is narrow and the road is hard that leads
to life, and there are few who find it. -Matthew 7:13-14

During the season when squirrels look for food that may be a bit easier to find and will tickle their taste buds in new and wonderful ways, I saw a squirrel tackling one of our bird feeders. The bird feeder was one of those shaped like a long tube. It was hanging from a tree branch in our backyard. The squirrel had crawled out on the limb from which the tube was hanging and began eating the bird seed that was at the top of the filled tube.

I can't really blame him for going after what seemed easy pickins'. However, as the squirrel continued to eat he went further and further down the tube-head first. Suddenly, he realized that he was upside down in a glass tube. How would he get out? Panic set in. He struggled and struggled to try and back out of the tube. What had seemed so easy could very well conclude in his death.

It is a parable of life. It is a fairly human trait which we all possess to one degree or another to take the easy, convenient way. What may appear to be easy in the final analysis may trap us. This was the simple point Jesus was trying to make. Revenge, cheating, hatred, judgment, drunkenness, sloth, envy, etc. may appear attractive at the beginning, but be our undoing at the end.

Prayer
God of love and power I begin another week of life. For sure there will be moments when I am tempted to feed on gossip, envy, revenge, hatred or some other trap that would damage my spirit. Grant me the courage and determination to take the high road with all of its difficulties that I might enjoy life free from the regret and guilt the inevitably follows. In the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.

C. Mac Hamon, Senior Pastor
Castleton United Methodist Church
Indianapolis, Indiana