In these recent times of re-emergence from the pandemic, I’ve been meditating on labyrinths, seeing in them a representation of what we experienced, viewing them as holding special symbolism.
When I helped to co-lead a five-day Shepherd Heart retreat, I envisioned the labyrinth as a beautiful overarching symbol. The retreat was a rich time where pastors and their spouses processed the past difficult years through invitations into creativity, poetry, and art, centered on the theme of the labyrinth.
In times of social distancing, sheltering-in-place, and learning to pivot and re-focus, where many have spent more time at home or alone, the labyrinth can represent a journey to encounter or learn something insightful through a winding or difficult path.
They also involve a return back out to the world to share that new wisdom or insight in a re-emergence.
Labyrinths can be used as a means of meditation and a way to experience Divine Presence. What I like is that the spiritual labyrinth is not a maze but a path, where God guides us toward the center. Although things may look confusing or be circuitous, walking God’s path can lead us to discover goodness, truth, or beauty.
There are no dead ends in labyrinths.
As the world continues to wrestle through the stages of the pandemic, labyrinths can speak to us. They can ask us: What did I learn on my recent winding journey that I can share as I re-emerge?
For our retreat, I drew three types of labyrinths. Even today, we can use them to consider our personal journeys…
Perhaps you feel like your journey has taken you on a path where you must retrace your steps to re-emerge.
Maybe you have walked a path where you’ll re-emerge but in a different spot than where you started.
Or it might be that the journey back to the world again is different than the path that took you to the center.
Each of these winding paths can be true for us as we walk where God might be calling us.
