
Labyrinths call me, their ancient designs perfected by a wisdom beyond knowledge.
Walk in, letting go of things that hold me earthbound. Many of them without form or name, known only to my soul.
Center my soul at the center.
Walk out, opening my full self to dispel illusion and embrace realities as they are revealed.
Each step in every direction holds the possibility of abandon to a Force that loves me unconditionally. A force I call God...Spirit...Source of the Universe.
For years I have recognized that control is – as author Tim Keller frames it – my deepest idol. Letting the Universe unfold life without my sticky hand of attempted control has been hard, if not downright impossible. I arrogantly have believed my way to be best. Whether it was work, relationships, furniture placement, or that crazy untamable wave in my hair, I wanted it my way and in my time. It is a challenging journey to realize that sometimes the hardest things in life turn out for a greater good. A good that would have never manifested had everything been done to my original specifications.
The Tao Te Ching catches my soul with passages rich in the difficult but sacred perfection of letting go and giving life its own chance.
“Those who try to conquer, control, manipulate the world to their desires will not succeed…
(For) the world is God’s own Vessel.
It cannot be made (by human interference)
He who makes it spoils it
He who holds it loses it.” [1]
Or as Stephen Mitchell, a favorite translator of the Tao and other ancient texts interprets, “The Master sees things as they are without trying to control them. She lets them go their own way and resides at the center of the circle.” [2]
Balance is in that center, the absolute center where I am most comfortable, where I am most me. Centered in my soul’s labyrinth where wholeness surrounds me and my energy can absorb every situation from a secure perspective.
The opposite? Uncentered. There my energy field fractures and I see wrong angles – and oh how much can go awry! I grab at answers I want rather than solutions for the highest good.
My earliest wisdom came from Jesus, “For what does it profit a man if he gain the whole world and lose his soul? Anyone who loves their life will lose it, while anyone who hates their life in this world will keep it for eternal life.” [3]
This is paradox at its subtle finest. It is losing control of now for the reality of now that allows Spirit-flow in the seasons of time-eternity.
King Solomon expressed this profoundly. “What do people really get for all their hard work? … God has made everything beautiful for its own time, he has planted eternity in the human heart, but even so people cannot see the whole scope of God’s work from beginning to end.” [4]
Even with the reality of eternity planted deep in my soul I cannot comprehend it with my mind. It must unfold as the Labyrinth does, in a circuitous path that reflects Solomon’s wisdom, “whatever exists today and whatever will exist in the future has already existed in the past.” [5]
There is sacred perfection to the natural law of the Universe. There is wisdom, energy, power, love. There is quiet and freedom and joy. My attempts at control roll wistfully down my cheeks. There is perfection in this very moment.
There is indeed a time for everything under heaven. We just don’t get to set the clock.
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[1]Verse 29, Tao Te Ching in The Wisdom of China and India ed. Lin Yutang Modern Library Edition 1955
[2]Tao Te Ching by Laozi, ed. Stephen Mitchell
[3]John 12:23
[4]Ecclesiastes 3:9-11 NLT
[5]Ecclesiastes 3:15 NLT
You are crying tears of joy, finally, and tears of freedom. I am crying with you. My goodness, I remain so humbled by your humility. xoxo
My attempts at control roll wistfully down my cheeks. There is perfection in this very moment.
"We just don’t get to set the clock."
My clock clock continues to tick.
I loved this!