Slough

Slough

Growing up in Minnesota I am familiar with swamps, blogs and sloughs. The land of ten thousand lakes has lots of backwaters. These were great places to catch frogs, salamanders and other assorted creatures to say nothing of the beautiful lily pads and cattails; a compete eco system of aquatic life.

What brought this to mind was the name of the inlet where we rented a home for our family vacation a few weeks ago. Just off of Comeback Bay on Lake Pend Oreille at Sandpoint, Idaho, is a small inlet called the Sagle Slough. A quiet body of water that was showing signs of the dog days of summer.

It was the word “slough” that caught my attention. Looking it up in the dictionary I found a few interesting tidbits. A slough is a place of deep mud or mire on a river or creek.” What surprised me was the variations of this word; same spelling but different pronunciation. Here they are:

-       A state of moral degradation or spiritual defection

-       The cast-off skin of a snake (yuk!)

-       A mass of dead tissue separating from an ulcer (yuk again!)

-       To get rid of or discard as objectionable

The most famous slough of literature is found in Pilgrim’s Progress written by John Bunyan in 1678 as a Christian allegory. It is called the Slough of Despond where the main character, Christian, sinks into the murky muck from the weight of his sins and guilt. A great read for all who seek relief from their burdens.

Having found myself, more than once, in this slough of despond, I am reminded of the words of Jesus that bring relief to the weary soul. “Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you’ll recover your life. I’ll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me; watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won’t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you’ll learn to live freely and lightly.”

These words are living water!