Sirens by Oscar Ramos Orosco
Good Morning, God!
Through a series of “random” connections I ended up at an interesting website called 99% and saw this illustration of Odysseus who had himself bound to the mast to resist the irresistible songs of the Sirens. His crew were wearing wax ear plugs. Surely, a much easier way to resist temptation. But, Odysseus wanted the joy of hearing the Sirens while the safety of resisting them. How like us, God!
Temptation is always with us, God. Even when we have no intention of “giving in” we still want to gaze upon it. We, like Odysseus want to hear the Siren Song — while resisting. Sigh, how good we are at deluding ourselves. It makes me think of the “Marshmallow Test.” This was a study years ago — in which children had ONE marshmallow put on the table in front of them. Then, they were told by the “instructor”, “I’m going to leave the room for a while. You can eat the marshmallow. But, if you can wait and not eat it then when I return I will give you a second marshmallow.” It turned out in this longitudinal study that the children who “waited” for the second marshmallow were more successful in later life.
For years it was assumed these children had more “character” — more “will power.” But, the secret for many of them seemed much simpler. They just didn’t LOOK at the marshmallow. They distracted themselves and focused on other things. They did the equivalent of putting wax in their ears.
How utterly simple, God! And how amazingly uncommon. Now, the question for myself is — what are my temptations? And, what am I doing about them? Hmmm.
Story teller,
A Moment with God 
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