On Day 9 of this new year I walked a labyrinth.
For our open labyrinth day at church I prepared questions for walkers to use, in order to reflect upon the past year and to enter the new year.
What name would you
give to your journey of
the past year? How would you describe it to your friends
give to your journey of
the past year? How would you describe it to your friends
and family? Is there an image or metaphor that fits?
What worked for you this past year? What didn't?
What needs to change?
How did the Holy One appear in your life?
Who were your wise persons? What did they reveal
to you? Support you? Influence you?
Did any of your hopes/dreams become reality?
What is your greatest need this year?
Where do you feel resistance? What patterns/habits
keep you stuck?
How is your relationship with the Holy One?
What is at the heart of your new year's prayer?
Those questions could keep me walking and walking and walking and fill a journal or two, also.
As I stood at the entrance of the labyrinth, however, I knew I wanted simply to allow the walk to unfold at my feet. I have done a good job preparing for the new year, I think, by attending a daylong retreat, by spending time with my writing group, and reading a wonderful new book, Living Revision by Elizabeth Jarret Andrew. Yes, mainly it is a book about writing, but writing as a spiritual practice and that intersects with how I live my life as a spiritual being.
I discovered my word of the year, "Devotion," and have spent time writing in my journal about the applications and meaning of that word. I have paid attention to these first days of the new year and how they lead the way into the new year.
I have entered the new year.
My intention as I entered the labyrinth was to open to whatever this walk offered.
As I walked, I paused at each curve. How good it is to pause, something I often forget to do. Pausing doesn't mean stopping, not taking action or moving forward or staying stuck. A pause is just a pause.
I thought about all the curves in my life. By the time one reaches almost 70, life has included lots of curves. Sometimes you can see around the bend, but often not. Sometimes there are hints or signs of an upcoming curve, but often not. Of course, sometimes it is not possible to pause, to give oneself much of a time-out, but instead the entreaty is to take one step at a time and ease around the bend.
Sometimes curves come in rapid succession, and that is true on the labyrinth, but sometimes there is a long stretch of clear and open space.
Pay attention. Stay awake.
In the center I stood still and straight. There was lots of background noise in the nearby kitchen, but that was ok. I continue to learn how to be still, to listen beneath the external noise and sometimes beneath my own internal noise -- the obsessions, agitations, and preoccupations. I can find stillness, even in the activity, the fullness of life.
As I walked the path back to the beginning, I gave thanks for the chance to integrate--yet again--the lessons I have been offered at various times of my life. I always feel lighter on the return route. The curves are lovely and no longer surprising as I glide my way round and round.
The New Year
Faithful Companion
in this new year I pray:
to life deeply, with purpose,
to live wisely, with humility,
to live lovingly, with fidelity,
to life gratefully, with generosity,
to live freely, with detachment,
to live justly, with compassion,
to live mindfully, with awareness,
to live fully, with enthusiasm.
Help me to hold this vision
and to daily renew it in my heart,
becoming ever more one with you,
my truest Self.
Joyce Rupp
An Invitation
What are you learning, hearing, seeing as you enter this new year? I would love to know.
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