A Story from Symposium

Several groups walked the labyrinth, as we hoped, and several walked it individually.
 
One woman approached me as I stood outside the Chapel. I asked if she had ever walked a labyrinth. "No," she replied. I offered to tell her about this contemplative practice, and at that moment, her phone rang and she answered.
 
Clearly, it was a difficult conversation. She sat in the stairwell across from the Chapel for quite some time, talking, listening, and then processing.
 
By the time she was ready to walk the labyrinth, a group had assembled. They began the journey in . . . to the center and out again.
 
As she came to the end of the path, she paused. She took a moment and then stepped aside so that others could return to the day beyond the labyrinth.
 
Later she came to me and explained her pause. 
 
Just as she stepped off the labyrinth, the piano music I had chosen for the day began playing Fleur de Lis, a song her daughter once played often. She and her daughter are no longer close, and it was as if the Spirit was offering her comfort for the burden of the call she had taken and the next steps her day would hold for her.
 
We never know. We simply never know why Spirit invites us to offer something or be somewhere. Still Spirit is always working in and through and on our behalf, and clearly, we are better together. Thanks be to God!
 
Deborah Garrard, Executive Director and Lead Coach
be(e) well serve well, a nonprofit wellness initiative