Walking the Labyrinth

This past October I attended a conference in Mississippi. One afternoon the rain gave way to some sunshine and I discovered that there was a Labyrinth in the field around our conference center.

"We know all too well that few journeys are linear and predictable. Instead they swerve and turn, twist and double back, until we don't know if we're coming or going. The image of the labyrinth is an ancient symbol for the meandering path of the soul that goes from light into darkness and emerges once again into the light. "
Phil Cousineau

Life is a journey for all of us. Some days we are very present to what is happening in the moment. We are very focused on the here and now. Other days we may feel wistful, full of wonder, or wondering. We all have days that can cause us to wonder "why", for as many reasons as there are people. Yet this is the work, this is the journey. God calls us to walk this journey with one foot in the present and the other from a place of depth and inquiry.

The conference that I went to was centered about 4 questions.

Who am I?
Where am I?
Where am I going?
Who is God calling me to be?

It has been said that we are either moving forward in our lives or slipping backwards. I can honestly say that my life in the last twenty some odd years has felt like that. For the first part of my life I was surrounded by fear and frustration. I was not at all sure who I was and what this life thing was about. Some of that was developmental but some of that was being surrounded by people that did not have the tools or interest in attaching meaning to the larger picture. Fear and the need for security were paramount. Love was central to all of our lives and that was the balm that held us all together. Yet, I am struck by the loneliness of life when I had no concept of my life as a larger story.
Without language or concepts that helped me look at God through a lens of meaning making, I felt alone and lost. I felt alone and lost even as I was surrounded by love and care.

As I write this the irony that I have been called to be a person in the world that teaches, leads and guides others to find their story, to explore the love of God in their lives, makes me smile. It is the very manifestation of what I am talking about. We are all part of a larger story. "Imagine your journey as Labyrinthine." When I can step back and see life in a larger context I can see things differently than I do when life is one dimensional. A Labyrinth is made of many different things. The one that is pictured here was built in a field. Wood chips filled in the space and rocks had been collected and formed the pattern. There was a entrance. The circular nature of the pattern is reflective of our lives. It finds its way to a center. Theology varies in different traditions about the meaning of this, for me I always feel like I am in the open hands of God. Each time I have walked a labyrinth, I find myself sitting down in the middle. Each time I walk this journey I find it hard to turn and walk back. Not because I don't love my life, but because of the peace and solace I find in that center place.

As our day unfolds around us, where is God in it? Where is your life meandering?
Who are you?
Where are you?
Where are you going?
Where is God call you today?

"Holy God, be in my mind that I might let go of all that diminishes the movement of Your Spirit within me.
Discerning God, be in my eyes, that I might see you in the midst of all the busyness that fills my life.

Loving God, be in my heart, that I can be open to those I love, to those with whom I share ministry and to the whole human family.

Gracious God, be in that grace-filled silence that lies deep within me, that I might live in Christ as Christ lives in me. Amen.
Credo