I love carefree walks. By that I mean
I would rather enjoy a nice walk through the park, over a stressful walk
through a city where a map is needed (I hate maps!). And today I realized that I
might be living a life comprised of many stressful city walks instead of cheery
(and still adventurous, since cities can be very adventure filled!) walks in
the park. Today I went through a prayer
labyrinth and was hit with so many insights and questions to ponder. There was a sheet at the beginning of the
labyrinth with some background information and tips on labyrinths and how one
can go about praying through one. On it, it mentioned how labyrinths are often
confused with mazes, but how they are not the same. A maze is a puzzle that
needs to be solved, it requires logical decisions to be made in order to find
the correct path; a labyrinth however, has only one path that one merely
follows. This was the foundation to the insights that I was hit with as I
walked it.
What if
our journey with God isn’t supposed to be some maze filled with a series of
choices that need to be made in order to find the path He wants us on? What if
we are making complicated something that He has simplified? What if there
really is just one path and we just can’t see the clear lines that guide us though
all the twists and turns?
I don’t
know if this is the case or not, but let me make some connections to how our
lives might look if the journey with God was a labyrinth rather than a maze. (A quick analogy key: The guiding lines – the
guiding Holy Spirit in our lives, a Spirit led life; the labyrinth- this life,
our journey with God; the nature of a labyrinth, its dead ends and turns – the Christian
life)
- When I began the labyrinth I had no clue what turns to make in order to get to the center, and yet I wasn’t stressed out because I knew, or I trusted that the lines would guide me. Also when the path would seemingly dead end and have me circle back and go the direction I had just come, I didn’t get mad or frustrated. I knew that it was just part of the nature of the labyrinth’s path. Efficiency to the center wasn’t the point of the labyrinth either, the journey was.
- Everyone, while they walk the same labyrinth, all have a different experience with it. Not only does everyone go at different speeds, stop at different points, and are challenged and learn different things during the journey, but one can walk alongside someone else for a time even if they are at very different points in the labyrinth, just because of the nature of its curves. We also might think we are very close to the center, or think we are going one direction, and then take a turn and find ourselves somewhere else completely, or end up in a section we had just come from. This seems to be very true of our individual walks with God, both in the way we interact with one another and sometimes go through seasons together, but also in how we seem to learn the same things over and over again.
How this idea can challenge us:
- How can we seek to strengthen our relationship with God and live such Spirit led lives that we just follow His guidance? The guiding lines were the foundation of why this whole labyrinth worked, the reason why I was able to just walk even though I didn’t know where I was going. Likewise, how can I live a life with this sort of effortless trust? Following the labyrinth’s guiding lines didn’t seem like a risky thing to do, it wasn’t hard to trust. So how can I approach my walk with God with that same kind of effortless trust?
- Maybe we are so caught up in the product, the end goal of things that we fail to realize the importance and value of the journey. Getting to the center wasn’t the goal of the labyrinth, walking the labyrinth itself, was. So how do we take time for the process to happen? And how do we trust the process enough to just enter into each day or season accepting all that comes as part of the journey? And I don’t just mean this in regards to trials, or uncertainties and unknowns where trust is required. I mean even in the midst of suffering. Paul in his letter to timothy says, “Indeed, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted” (2 Timothy 3:12). I’m not saying it will be easy, but it shouldn’t be shocking. A dead end in a labyrinth isn’t shocking, we don’t say, “What, why did this door close, I thought you were leading me this way!” No, we don’t even think much of it; we just turn around and keep walking! Ok a door closing and suffering, aren’t the same thing, but it’s just this idea of being shocked. Why are we shocked when a door we thought would be open is closed? Why are we shocked when we find ourselves in a place we thought we had left, but have now returned to? Why are we shocked when suffering and persecution come, when the scripture clearly tells us it will? We knew the twists and turns were part of the journey when we began the labyrinth, likewise, don’t we know the characteristics of a journey with God!
With all this being said, it is
easier said than done. And here’s a confession. A labyrinth isn’t hard to
follow, and yet I somehow arrived at the entrance point and not the center
after walking it for a while. I’m not sure where or when I messed up, but guess
what, it was okay. I just walked into the center and had my time with God. Life
with Him is simple. Love Him, love others, trust Him, worship Him, etc. They
are all simple straight forward tasks, and yet we somehow screw it up. But it’s
not game over. It doesn’t mean we miss out on being in the center with Him. I
guess I could have let my embarrassment that I had messed up keep me from
spending time in the center, but it seemed a little too legalistic. Likewise,
the lie that what we’ve done, even if we feel like we are the only one, and
that it’s just too big of a screw up, shouldn’t be reason enough for us to
think we can’t enter into His presence. Don’t let shame keep you from what
grace made a way for.
This is not an exhausted list of
the comparisons I made, but I hope it gives you some thoughts to ponder as
well. Maybe life with Him isn’t some complicated thing. Maybe rather than
seeking wisdom all the time to make decisions about which way to go, we should
seek a deeper and more evident relationship with Him. So that we can just see
the guidance He provides and simply follow Him. Maybe the Bible isn’t some
instruction manual, formula, or extensive sheet of directions since life isn’t
a navigation of multiple paths, but rather just the act of following one path.
Making the Bible simply a way for us to get to know Him and who He is, so that
as we follow Him as a sheep would follow a Sheppard, we would recognize Him,
and His voice and know what to follow.
Maybe this whole theory is
completely wrong, and even if it isn’t completely wrong, I am sure it has
flaws. But either way, this mindset on life seems to replace stress with trust,
and decisions with guidance. It trades the knowledge of the destination for the
excitement of a surprise. And in this adventure, since we aren’t caught up in
making sure we are following right the
directions, we can simply enjoy the trip as we simply follow Him through every
beautiful (not frustrating!) turn of the journey.
“Every day God invites us on the same kind of adventure. It's not a trip where He sends us a rigid itinerary, He simply invites us. God asks what it is He's made us to love, what it is that captures our attention, what feeds that deep indescribable need of our souls to experience the richness of the world He made. And then, leaning over us, He whispers, "Let's go do that together.”
― Bob Goff
