A-Maze-d

Labor day was commemorated in our house by a trip to the Grotto, a famous church here in Portland.

We had no traffic issues and made good time and the weather was glorious, that fall weather with abundant sunshine, tempered by a slight chill in the air that portends the fall of leaves and the appearance of apples and pumpkins and squash, before the door is shut on warmth and glaring sunshine.

Noe had been having a tough few days and so I had an extra eye on him and knew that this walk in nature would do him good. We visited the actual grotto and then took the elevator up to see the tiny chapel and then walked in the beautiful garden that had been laid out specifically with tiny chapels and statues and a meditating pond and more importantly a labyrinth, a replica of the one at the Cathedral in Chartres, France. We had walked that one in 2012, Noe was this tiny seven year old, unafraid of walking all over Paris and had willingly followed along with me. Ten years later, we were at a replica and I decided we would walk the circular path again. I asked him to follow me. 

This was not something you could walk with your head held high. You needed to look down at the path and make sure you are following along. The path turns on itself so many times that if you don't pay attention, you can easily misstep and then you will be truly lost. It you accidentally step over to the next path, you might end up completely reversing direction. And you will not find out your mistake until you end up where you began. And all would have been for naught. So it is head down, focus and one foot in front of the other. No distractions. One can pray, but again, that is yours to decide. In my case, reminding Noe to follow me and not rush me and stay calm and stop talking loudly was my repetitive chant.

I did not look up except for the couple of times there were people walking at me...I doubted my direction. Had I accidentally walked in the opposite direction? Am I going to have to start over again? But I persisted. The path meanders. Sometimes it veers towards the periphery before wandering inward and sometimes it seems to stay in one half of the circle before briefly venturing into the second half and back again. The possibility that maybe, just maybe you took a misstep or two, dogs you. But like I said, head down, focus and one step in front of the other. The downward focus almost gave me a headache. The need to turn often felt a bit vertiginous, but I kept on and then for the last few feet it straightened and went right to the center. I'd made it. That felt good! We took a picture and then walked out and came home.

It was on the way that it hit me, that life imitated the labyrinth. We all do not walk the same one, but it is a labyrinth nonetheless. Maybe an extremely personalized one. But the beginning and the end are the same for everyone. And ironically two people might walk the exactly same path but their mindset defines how they view it. Doubts beset you often in life.  Sometimes they are justified. You have indeed erred and misstepped. Unlike the labyrinth though, life gives you second chances. You can correct yourself. You don't have to start at the beginning. But sometimes, that chance is gone. You have to figure out how to recoup. It might work out, it might not. That is where other people come in. You look up, you see what others are doing, you ask for help, you right yourself.  

If the labyrinth is for introspection, life is actually not. It might meander like the labyrinth, want you to ignore distractions and walk diligently on the path. But it expects you to look upwards, not in pride, but at your follow travellers, for love, guidance and above all, support. Our strength is not as much in us as around us. Let us learn to use it, let it guide us and lead us to where we need to be.