Walking along the pebbled path, weaving between the roughly trimmed hedges, I was hit with the most cliché, yet simultaneously most significant, realization. Life is a labyrinth.
As part of our staff training last weekend, we embarked on a
scavenger hunt throughout Houston to familiarize ourselves with the city.
Amidst the white noise of the city, the honking cars, the chattering people,
the wafting wind, we stopped at a haven of silence: a labyrinth lush with greenery
and life in the middle of a concrete jungle. It was when I walked through its
twists and turns, reflecting on life and my relationship with God, I became
aware that each one of us is given our own maze, with numerous pathways, but
one final destination in the center. Sometimes we walk around it aimlessly with
our eyes glued on the ground, too preoccupied with little bumps in the road.
But with this method, we often forget to look ahead and around at the beautiful
things God has planned for our walk with Him.
This past week, my first week of hosting, many times I
maintained such a mindset to approaching the life labyrinth. The junior high
girls I hosted were an amazing group of people, with so much obvious love and
passion for serving the Lord. But along the way, there were several small obstacles
that often caused me more stress than they probably should have. Confusion with
directions, searches for parking, issues with timing - they all added to the
heightening sense of anxiety I felt about hosting. But over the days, as I
became more familiar with the rhythm of hosting, the little bumps in the road
smoothed out underneath my feet, and I was able to look around and see the
amazing ways God was working in the girls.
It was bittersweet to see my first group leave yesterday. It’s beautiful to look
back and remember the great times I had with that group of girls as well. I
think that through this week, they opened their eyes to see things that they
were not familiar with, such as poverty and homelessness, from a different
perspective, from a God perspective. For all the times we made a wrong exit on
the highway or arrived early or late to a ministry site, it was the journey and
the final destination that truly mattered.
Every labyrinth comes with its own obstacles: weeds
sprouting out of the ground, rocks in the pathway, or most frustrating: dead
ends. Only someone standing not just in the center, but above the center can
see the pathways that lead to the final destination. And that someone is God.
Through this week, I realized that if we really listen to Him and His
direction, that the obstacles will not pose a threat, and that we will be able
to navigate our way through this labyrinth of life.
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