Lashed to the Mast

Will you help me?

I’ve started a new job, and it’s overwhelming! I don’t feel like i have time to breathe, much less to write. Tonight I went in to pray with my boys, and I just laid with them and talked and laughed with them for about an hour past what should have been their bed-time. That time was so rich!

But my days are now filled with shoveling…a lot of…excrement. I LOVE my new job; some because there is so much to fix, and I love fixing things. But fixing things is a lot of work, and everything else in life seems to get crowded out.

So will you help me? Todd Wangsgard tells the story of Odysseus:

In Homer’s Odyssey, Odysseus is told of a magnificent song sung by the sirens of the sea, but one that would lure unsuspecting sailors dangerously close to the rocky shore. Lacking the discipline to stay safely away from the rocks but close enough to hear the sirens’ tantalizing tune, previous sailors had sailed closer and closer to the sweet sound until their ships were dashed into the depths.

Odysseus found a solution.

Odysseus would have his seamen fill their ears with beeswax, so they could not hear the sultry song and therefore be tempted to sail too closely to shore. All the while they would keep their ship on an exacting and safe course. Meanwhile, having been securely lashed to the mast by his men, Odysseus would be able to bask in the mirthful melody of the sirens, but unable to escape and force the sailors to steer even closer. And while he might shout at his men usb car charger for electronic cigarette passthrough, insisting that they change course, they would not be able to hear him.

I need to be lashed to the mast!

I’m being attracted to a location that will bring destruction if I’m not careful. I find all the details and challenges to deal with, and I’m intractably pulled into a life of fixing problems, but then I forget to hang out with my kids, spend extended time with my Lord, and separate myself from my daily duties to write.

Right now I need friends who will remind me to do what brings me life, and what brings others a touch of grace. I need to keep writing. But it’s difficult.

So will YOU help me? Will you lash me to the mast? I know there are a lot of people who read my blog regularly, but if I don’t keep writing regularly, I won’t be serving them…or you. But the comments that are written on this blog do get auto-sent to my email. And if you post a reply here asking me to keep writing, it will end up in my in-box, reminding me that there are people I am serving and loving as I take the time to sit down and write.

So, if you would, please help me out and lash me to the mast. The Siren song of giving my life to my work may pull me to the rocky shore, but in the end, I don’t want to let my work keep me from the things that keep me alive; like hanging out with my kids—like reading—like dreaming with my wife—like regular writing.

Thanks for your help in lashing me to the mast!