I wanted one in my yard for years.
Every year our church sets up an indoor labyrinth during Lent. I have not gone to it once.
Camp Hanover, which hosts our congregational retreats, has a stone labyrinth. Despite having attended multiple retreats, I have not once walked the labyrinth there.
Still, something has always appealed to me about it. I could make one in my yard with stones. Or bricks. Or a boundary of flowers – how beautiful would that be?
Idea Becomes Reality
Finally, the opportunity to try a yard labyrinth came to me as a result of my elephant ear addiction. I have all types of elephant ear plants – very large to tiny, in a range of colors that include various shades of green, yellow, blue, pink, and black. Over the years one elephant ear bulb became many, and soon I had enough pots to arrange them in a small labyrinth!
The first summer that I had my labyrinth found me regularly walking through its pattern. Like meditation, the labyrinth is a spiritual discipline that you learn by doing, so I was diligent, walking the labyrinth 3-5 times a week.
Though I enjoyed the newness of it, I noticed that being in the labyrinth made me always think about the same thing.
Weeding.
That’s right, every time I entered my spiritual oasis I instantly became a gardener instead of a soul searcher or philosopher. How incredibly maddening!
Distractions
The gardener persisted in the labyrinth all summer, easily distracted by tree seedlings that were growing in the pots, Virginia creeper that encroached the path and pots that needed to be rotated or moved so they could get more sun. When winter came and the labyrinth was put away, I did not feel it was a waste of time, but I certainly wished that I had gained more spiritual benefit from it.
The next spring found me arranging my elephant ear pots yet again, a slightly different shape this time. My expectations were guarded, knowing how the gardener refused to yield to the philosopher last year.
The first time I walked the new labyrinth was, well, different. It’s not that the gardener didn’t notice things that needed to be trimmed, shaped, adjusted and plucked – it’s that the philosopher was able to say “you know, when I’m finished here I need to call the gardener to take care of that.”
What Changed?
Why would my experience in the labyrinth suddenly be so different? I think it was a combination of persistence, purposeful practice, and developing a comfortable routine.
Persistence
To some degree, you do just need to keep trying until you figure things out. This is true in many aspects of life, and is certainly a Biblical idea.
Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.
1 Corinthians 15:58
Why would we need to be told to be steadfast, immovable, and that our labor is not in vain? Probably because sometimes doing things that are right, good, just, and beneficial will be difficult, we will feel like we are not making progress and we will want to quit. But we shouldn’t – though progress may seem elusive, eventually it comes to the persistent.
Purposeful Practice
My first attempts at the labyrinth found me walking in and just allowing thoughts to materialize. They did. Thoughts of weeding.
I must admit that to some degree I had an expectation that I would be able to walk into the labyrinth and suddenly the reason to be there would come to me, perhaps in a flash of lightening or an angel choir! I kind of expected the labyrinth to do the work for me, and that’s a good way to fall short, as illustrated in Luke 14:28-30.
For which of you, desiring to build a tower, does not first sit down and count the cost, whether he has enough to complete it? Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who see it begin to mock him, saying, ‘This man began to build and was not able to finish.’
Luke 14:28-30
This story indicates that you need to have some understanding of your goal before you can wisely go work towards it. In the larger context of the end of Luke 14, the real lesson from Jesus is that following Him would be immensely difficult and require great sacrifice. One should consider that before signing up.
When I had a purpose before entering the labyrinth, I developed an expectation of what I wanted to think about and I was better able to focus on that, and the gardener remained outside of my practice.
Comfortable Routine
Regardless of my purpose, I enter the labyrinth with thoughts of gratitude and leave the labyrinth with requests for help or guidance. When I spend the time entering the labyrinth with thanks, then my most meaningful requests bubble to the top on the way out. It is a way for me to let the small stuff slide off of my shoulder so that the important concerns that I need to bring to God are left.
The labyrinth has definitely helped me to live grateful today!
right outside of the window by the kitchen sink. The hummingbirds are less than 10 feet from me, and when they come to visit while I am washing dishes, I stop what I am doing and just watch their tiny bodies dance around the feeder between sips of sugar water.
Live Grateful Today 