Labyrinth

Good Friday. After chapel, I went to the cafeteria to pick up some lunch. On the way out I saw a sign for the Prayer Labyrinth. I sighed and shook my head, silently remarking that there was another one of those dumb ideas that some people have about spirituality.Then I stopped. God has been pressing me more and more to have a charitable attitude toward others and not judge them. He keeps bringing me up short. He keeps correcting me. I have a mocking attitude. In fact, I had just been to the chapel service in which the lyrics of the song read, "Ashamed, I hear my mocking voice...." and the words had convicted me. I have come from a family of mockers in a a harsh and irreverent culture. I cut my teeth on sarcasm and biting humor. And yet, God seems bent on making me into a loving and gentle person.So I literally stopped right there on the way out the door, wheeled around, and went into the gym to do the Prayer Labyrinth.The first problem was that people were in there playing basketball on the other side of the room. But, one must learn to focus in the midst of distractions. Leaving my styrofoam container of chicken on a chair, I read the instructions. They told me there was a difference between a maze and a labyrinth. The maze is a sort of puzzle which is meant to present a mental challenge. The labyrinth is just a path to follow. It's supposed to help you focus. There was some other stuff on the sheet of paper that did sorely tempt me to roll my eyes, but I decided to skim these parts and focus on the idea of focusing.The labyrinth is an enormous bright blue tarp. The circular path is delineated with masking tape. The sign read, "please remove your shoes."So in my socks I quietly walked the labyrinth, hands clasped behind my back. I found that it was indeed very soothing not to have to make any decisions about which way to turn. I just strolled along, got to the middle, read a Psalm, and then strolled circuitously all the way out.As I walked, I thought about whoever had made this thing. Somebody got excited about it. They sketched or copied the design, bought tarps and tape, made measurements, laid out the pattern. Maybe they made mistakes along the way and redid the tape. Probably it was two or more people. And, it has to be stored somewhere, brought out, set up, and then folded up again and put away. By somebody.Somebody was hoping to bless others. Somebody was hoping to encourage people to pray. Somebody was trying to make the world a better place. Maybe they took a day, or a whole week, to do this project. And somebody had laid it out here for me to try. For me, the mocker.And I was blessed, just thinking about all the ways I have been blessed by things other people how done, people who heard from the Lord to do a thing, and they went and did it, and they put it out there, risking mockage. Do I have the courage to put something out there that others may belittle?I used to think this way about expressive worship in which singers move with abandon., sometimes in strange ways. Many years ago, I would have looked down on such displays of emotion as mere bids for attention. Now I know better. I know I don't know what's in somebody's heart.But I know what's in my own heart: pride, judgment, a cold measuring of the offerings of others. I want nothing more to do with these ugly things. Lord, remember me when you come into Your kingdom.