Labyrinth Walking

We are blessed with a home that sits on 2.6 acres of land, most of that being a large field. Over the years we've added some texture to that field. We've planted trees along the road. We've cultivated forsythias to create a winding pathway - our "yellow brick road" - that leads from the center of the field to a shady sit-spot along the tree line, under the wide and embracing branches of a hickory tree. And we leave small sections of the field un-mowed to create undercover for little critters and to allow wild plants and flowers to grow for the bees and butterflies and birds.

My most favorite part of our field, however, is the labyrinth my husband keeps mowed for me in the back corner of the field. It's a simple labyrinth with a small stone bench in the center, and a half mile walk in and back out. I have walked miles upon miles in that labyrinth over the past 8 years. 

Yesterday was a particularly nice New England winter morning. The perfect amount of cold balanced with the perfect amount of morning sun. Birds flittering about the trees and singing in the woods that abut two sides of the field. A lazy morning of skipping church in order to join with my husband and son in watching the final World Cup soccer game.

And on this morning, I connected with an ACIM experience of walking the labyrinth. As I followed the path in towards the center, I had the sense of letting go the world. All its appearances and illusions. All my fears and doubts. All my interpretations and judgments. 

²I who remain as God created me would loose the world from all I thought it was. ³For I am real because the world is not, and I would know my own reality. [CE W-132.15:2-3]

As I loosed the world from all I thought it was, I moved closer to the center - the center of the labyrinth and the center of my being. Closer to my Self as God created me, closer to God Whom I've never actually left in truth. Until I arrived in the center, sitting on the bench, completely present in that moment, feeling the sun warm my face and listening to the birds. 

3 The present now remains the only time. ²Here in the present is the world set free. ³For as you let the past be lifted and release the future from your ancient fears, you find escape and give it to the world. [CE W-132.3:1-3]

Here I prayed, present in this moment, allowing myself to rest in God until it felt like my time there was complete. As I walked the labyrinth back out, I considered what I was bringing with me back into the world. A new state of mind, centered in a glimpse of remembering the truth of who I am. 

Walking back out into the world, bringing with me the readiness to offer my brothers the peace, joy, hope, and love - the miracles - to which we are all entitled to.  ​​

1 You are entitled to miracles because of what you are. ²You will receive miracles because of what God is. ³And you will offer miracles because you are one with God. [CE W-77.1:1-3]

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