Tuesday's Prayer Labyrinth

Shifting Expectations and Scout's contribution to our time

I started my morning on m walk with Scout talking out a sermon that feels like is going to have a lot to do with expectations and when expectations don’t go as we expect.  I had talked this out on our walk before we then stopped for our labyrinth walk. After our walk, we went to a labyrinth at a Unitarian community near my house and was surprised to find that it wasn’t quite as I had experienced it before.  This labyrinth was always one that was a bit tough to see because it was crafted simply out of mowing the grass in different patterns.  So I knew that going there today but today it was not what I expected. As I pulled in, I noticed that it seems they are redeveloping that grassy area.  Maybe they’re making it a more “formal” labyrinth or maybe it is going to be something else as there were stakes and tape around the area and a huge pile of mulch nearby.  But there were still traces of the paths there as you can see in the image.

The paths actually look a lot clearer in the photo than they did in person.  So I decided to just kind of wander around the area following as closely as I could to what I remembered the pattern to be.  Suffice to say it was probably just a bunch of random wanderings.  But I tried to have it be as meditative and prayerful a time as I could.  It wasn’t perfect but that’s ok.  As Lisa would often say, “it’s all in there” and in this case - perfection and imperfection.  All in there.

Scout was wandering around off-leash as I walked and she periodically came up and walked with me and then a scent would pull her away.  But as I was halfway to the center (I think), I noticed Scout squatting on what would have been one of the outer rings of the labyrinth.  Yup, dogs have to do their business and when nature calls they respond.  So, knowing that I didn’t want to forget where the deposit was, I wandered out of where I was with the prayerful walk and bagged the poop up and tried to return to the path.  But honestly, by that time, it wasn’t feeling quite the meditative and prayerful space.  So I just went to where the center was and sat down and called Scout over for our photo.

So it wasn’t what I expected that time to be today for a variety of reasons but that’s ok.  Sometimes, things are as we hope and other times they shift.  But for me today, the bigger question is how to respond to those shifted expectations.  In this case, I laughed.  I hugged my dog.  I remembered those words - it’s all in there.  And tomorrow, I’ll walk a different one and continue to give thanks for and remember my friend.

Here is the reflection that was created for this labyrinth two years ago. Again, Lisa’s voice is one of those narrating the walks in and walks out.

Grass Labyrinth - Unitarian Fellowship - Finneytown, Ohio