Life in the Labryinth
“Get through the Labyrinth, get through the Labyrinth” is the common refrain of Toggle and his traveling companions in the 80’s movie Labyrinth. I love that movie for so many reasons. Jim Henson is a genius, and the Fraggles…well they need NO introduction, so the movie just enthralls me at different times in my life.
I was pondering today though, what does it take to get through the labyrinths of life? Is it moxy, a steely resolve to get through no matter what, or is it a little of everything? I am a firm believer that life is a journey and not a destination. I know that is a tired old adage, but it is a tired old adage because it has some meaning and therefore has stuck around. However, where you are journeying though is really up to you. If I am going to choose some place to journey, it might as well be in the labyrinth of life with Christ.
Spiritual life is a labyrinth. It has its straight places, its curves, its dead ends and the dreaded “oubliette” or “places of forgetting” where no one dares go, and only the naïve and the tricked end up. But in all these places you can do one thing always. You can always look up. If you are a really good navigator you can even get yourself out of the labyrinth by navigating from the piece of the heavens that you see.
We have all been tricked in the labyrinths of life at different times. We head down one seemingly straight path and end up at a dead end. We take a left that leads to more confusion when we should have taken a right. What is even more perplexing is the fact that sometimes when lost, it is best to hold still and wait for a buddy to come by. Two heads always makes for more wise choices. Too bad that most of us are not inclined to seek that sort of wisdom; we always want to work ourselves out of our own messes.
Spiritually God has been telling me to sit still. I did not realize how hard it is for me to “be still and know that I am God” until he actually called me to be very intentional about it. About every week I have a reminder that I need to be still. It is tough. I want to advance in ministry, I want to get more experience at the church, and I want to go to seminary… all start with I want… But slowly I am turning the page into what God wants, what HE desires of me. I believe God is telling me to be still for a year. If I have my timing right it has been since I had brain surgery in October of last year that he has spoken that to me. I am learning to submit to the guiding hand of my pastor and some very wise and godly friends and counsel. I value them more then they could ever know.
The one thing that will even the playing field in a labyrinth is winter. Think of the kind of labyrinth that is lined with very thick bushes that you cannot see through because the leaves make an impenetrable fortress. When those leaves fall off though you can see straight to the heart of the matter and plot the course home. I am in the labyrinth, I have come through the spiritual winter and I can see the way out…yet God says “be still and know…” And as G.I. Joe once said, “knowing is half the battle.”
The other half of the battle is wisdom. I love the way The Message describes wisdom in Proverbs 3: 13-18:
You are blessed when you meet Lady Wisdom, when you make friends with Madame Insight.
She’s worth far more than money in the bank; her friendship is better than a big salary.
Her Value exceeds all the trappings of wealth; nothing you could wish for holds a candle to her.
With one hand she gives long life, with the other she confers recognition.
Her manner is beautiful, her life wonderfully complete. She’s the very Tree of Life to those who embrace
Her. Hold her tight –and be blessed!”
Wisdom is gained only when we ask for it, and in living life in the ups and downs. Many times when we ask for wisdom God gives it to us, and then he gives us the opportunity to live that wisdom out. It is in the life that we live that wisdom finds its place. If we have all the knowledge and no experience then we have no context for the knowledge we have. Wisdom is the knowledge of God rightly applied.
When you are journeying through life you need many, many things. Life throws everything at you. Sometimes it is soft fruit thrown at you one at a time, other times it is the flames and arrows coming at you so fast all you can do is duck and cover. All the attributes you need in order to face those days, the good and the bad, are wrapped up in the ideas of knowledge and wisdom. The pursuit of knowledge is enhanced by wisdom and wisdom comes in searching for knowledge. It is a conundrum worthy of the best labyrinth.
Step into the Labyrinth, the maze of life. Walk boldly into the places of the unknown. Fall as you might, scarred out of your mind, but boldly walk in those deep and dark places. God is there, and he is near, and in the end you will know Him better. And you will find that in so doing you will have a better knowledge of yourself.
~Selah~
- Uncategorized
- Comments(0)
