Labyrinth walking-Solvitur ambulando

St. Augustine said, "Solivitur ambulando", which  means: 'it is solved by walking.'

I think sometimes;

 and especially when you feel stuck;

it's good to walk.

Walk and pray.

That's the idea behind labyrinth walking.

Labyrinths have been around for centuries.

Probably as long as people have felt that they needed to walk and to talk to God.

I learned about labyrinths from Barbara Brown Taylor's exquisite book, "An Altar in The World."



 So I check it out, and sure enough, there is a labyrinth near my home; at Fairhaven Park.

So I go there

not really knowing

 what to expect.

 At first blush it seems

nondescript.

Just a bunch of stones laid out in a pattern on the grass. 

But then, who would look for God

in a barn?

Or by a well-

Or in a tomb?
"Why not a labyrinth," I ask myself.

Most mortals have their most significant encounters with God in ordinary spots.

Or as Barbara Brown Taylor puts it :

"Earth is so thick with divine possibility that it is a wonder we can walk anywhere without cracking our shins on altars."

 So I stand at the opening and breathe a deep cleansing breath.

I take one step...

 Then another.

 I find myself winding along a path with 180 degree turns every so often.

Labyrinths, unlike mazes; have no dead ends.

I like that.

Because God isn't leading me on a wild goose chase...

only to snicker when I run into a block.

No, though it may be circuitous;

His path always leads

Somewhere.

 I start to see how this labyrinth walk is a lot like my life.

Always moving,

but seemingly not that far

from where I started.

Mistakes

 compel me

to take u-turns.

 I forge ahead anyway

making slow progress.

Sometimes painfully slow. 

Gradually the knots in my brain

 untangle
as I weave my way

back and forth.

 I look over to see my husband wandering along his path.

Sometimes we're shoulder to shoulder. Sometimes far apart.

And I think about how often I worry

about where others are on their journey

instead of enjoying my own.

Sometimes I even judge others

because they're not walking

the same road as me.

And when I do that;

get so distracted by others...

I stray off my own course.

So I resolve

to pay more attention to my own path;

and a lot less to yours.

 Up and back.

Back and forth.

Inching closer to

the Center.

The place of Receiving.

Believing.

Knowing.

 Are you living your dream,

or somebody else's?

How on earth can we inspire

anybody

if we don't live our dreams?

Who's  gonna live my dream anyway?

I think about this as I walk.

 Approaching the center there are colored stones.
Blue for heaven.
Brown for earth.

In the middle

there's a small replica

of the labyrinth I'd just walked
which is a replica
of the life I live
which, I hope
is a replica
of the life of Christ.

.

 I stand in the center for a little while.

Thankful for the way He leads.

The psalmist says His paths are called:

Mercy

and

Truth

 That's all I need.

And when I leave this place

I think I may have

bumped my shin

on an Altar.

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