Tag Archives: Slowing Down

Listening to the Song of the Doing Sirens

170px-The_Siren
The Siren, by John William Waterhouse (circa 1900)

I’m supposed to be on Sabbatical…a time of reflection and re-evaluation after years of plowing the land of the King. Yet despite the desire to dial down and be, I found myself following the song the Doing Sirens….

Sirens, for those who don’t know, were beautiful creatures in Greek mythology who lured sailors to their death through their enchanting music. Their charm was so powerful that few who heard their voices lived to tell of the experience. Those who did live were forever changed as the song of the Sirens crept into their souls and tweaked their hearts.

The song of the Doing Sirens is just as powerful as those sirens of old – calling humanity ever forward, ever faster, ever doing while the wheels of life spins and spins and spins, slipping past the teeth of time on the way nowhere. Few who have heard their song completely break free – and none leave without scars.

For years I have plowed the fields of the Lord side by side with the fields of Pharaoh, tightening my muscles with each stone removed or jarring bump. Storms of emotions raged around me coupled with spiritual attacks and bouts of depression, yet despite it all I held on to the plow – a fated Odysseus bracing against the sound of the Sirens, desperately wanting to hear their song all the while knowing the fate of those who listen.

[box]“Come closer, famous Odysseus – Achaea’s pride and glory – moor you ship on our coast so you can hear our song! Never has any sailor passed our shores in his black craft until he has heard the honeyed voices pouring from our lips, and once he hears to his heart’s content sails on, a wiser man. We know all the pains that the Achaens and Trojans once endured on the spreading plain of Troy when the gods willed it so – all that comes to pass on the fertile earth, we know it all!”  [/box]

Oh, that I may be an Orpheus whose music drowned out their sounds…but alas I am a Butes whose ears betray the wisdom given to me by those who have sailed before me after the Wild Goose… Divinely the Creator King provided an Aphrodite to carry me away, reminding me of the danger of the Sirens. Ladan’s treacherous while working for Pharaoh also helped to awaken me to the song of death.

[box] “He who pursues righteousness and love finds life, prosperity and honor” (Prov 21:21)[/box]

To slow down and pursue righteousness and love…..oh that I might be able to shape the angles of life, focusing on being…that way when I plow the fields of the King once again I may find joy and honor in prayer, proclaiming Scripture, and giving spiritual direction. oh that the below prayer be true in my life, soul, heart and mind….

[box]I am no longer my own, but Yours. Use me as you choose;  Rank me alongside whoever You choose; Put me to doing, put me to suffering; Let me be employed for You, or laid aside for You, Raised up for You, or brought down low for You; Let me be full, let me be empty; Let me have all things, let me have nothing; With my whole heart I freely choose to yield All things to Your ordering and approval.

So now, God of glory, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, You are mine, and I am Your own.

-the end of a Celtic Covenant Service[/box]