Our memories of the labyrinth will linger long after our footprints in the sand are gone.

I had the chance to go to Circles in the Sand with Dawn and Fran last weekend. If you get the chance to go, I highly recommend it. Labor Day weekend is there last "draw" this year, but they will be doing it again next summer. Check it out at https://expo.oregonlive.com/life-and-culture/g66l-2019/01/7bc92e8b7f336/circles-in-the-sand-releases-sand-labyrinth-schedule-for-2019.html

A labyrinth is not a maze or a puzzle to be solved but a path of meaning to be experienced. Its path is circular and convoluted, but it has no dead ends. A labyrinth has one entrance -- one way in and one way out. When we walk the path, we go around short curves and long curves; sometimes we are out on the edge, sometimes we circle around the center. We are never really lost, but we can never quite see where we are going...kind of like life wouldn't you say?

Along the path we sometimes move forward with ease and confidence: sometimes we creep ahead cautiously, sometimes we find the need to stop and reflect, and sometimes we even feel the urge to retreat. The center is there but our path takes us through countless twists and turns. Sometimes we are at the heart of our life experiences, sometimes we are at a playful turn; sometimes we share our path with others, and other times we don't. No matter what, we are still on the labyrinth path. It holds all our experiences, in life and in work. We need to be aware that what looks like an end point can also be a beginning point. Indeed, in so many ways, the labyrinth is like life.

The labyrinth can be a metaphor for what is sacred in our lives. Through its twists and turns, its ancient spaciousness holds everything we experience -- our minds and emotions, our physical beings and our spirits, our losses and gains, our successes and failures, our joys and sorrows. When we walk the path inward, we carry our burdens with us. When we meditate or pray in the center, we ask for grace, forgiveness, and understanding. When we walk the path outward, we are lighter, more joyful, and ready again to take on our life's challenges.

The labyrinth that is my life has taken me through many twists and turns. Yet it is my deep belief in God that has steadily inspired me, leading me deeper into my life path, deeper into authentic meaning. When I explore the meaning of my life, with all of the design features of classic labyrinths that I've noted above, I deepen my experience of life. We don’t get straight paths in life – only winding roads that never show us the final destination and that keeps taking us to places we don’t expect to go.