The Siren Song

It is no surprise when I mention skydiving. I like to do it. Money and time keep me from jumping as often as I wish. And then sometimes I get a little lazy and skip out after all, it is some work, to gear up, load up, walk back, and of course, pack. It is well worth the energy expended, but sometimes, I am too lazy to go. Once I get there, and that door opens, "Yahoo!" Getting there that is the challenge.

One of the downsides (though there are huge upsides) to living this close to the drop zone is that I can hear the plane from my office and house. If I stand on the front porch of either I can sometimes see parachutes (usually the tandems or students, opening high). For me that sound can be a siren song. Today, Wednesday, I am working on a sermon, doing some web work, and hearing a plane, most likely the Caravan, dropping people out. I went yesterday, I am thinking Friday I will go again. But the sound has my attention now. Sunny day, alone, I want to go.

Siren song is from the Odyssey by Homer were songs sung by Sirens, mythical beauties whose song was irresistible. To answer their call was to die. Now days, anything that calls or beckons us can be referred to as such a song. Usually these beckonings are not the best for us, though usually the most appealing. And most often is used for things that draw us away from what we are supposed to be doing or need to get done. They are a distraction. In the Odyssey, Odysseus want to hear the song but avoid the consequences that he has himself strapped to the mast of his ship, wax placed in his shipmates ears with strict orders to not release him no matter what he says. 

On our spiritual journey there are so many siren songs. Things which draw us of the path to which we have been called. Sometimes it is the pleasures of this world. For example, I try to eat well. My food siren is Peanut M&Ms. And Safeway cinnamon twists. Sometimes the songs are other people, attracting or distracting us. They might occupy time we need, or cause us to question. And then there are the doubt and question songs. We all get them. 

We have two choices I suppose. The first is to be like Odysseus' oarsmen, wax in our ears, not hearing them at all. The other might well be to crank up the other song. The songs of God's word, the music of life. The greatest danger we face on that journey is to try and listen to the sirens and avoid the consequences. That rarely works. So today, the sound of a plane, draws my attention, but I remain at my post. I can wait a couple of days.