One Step at a Time

The sun dappled through the lush summer green trees as our car crunched across the gravel parking lot of the small, wooden church on a quaint, nearby island.  We stepped out of the car and into the stillness, which was punctuated only by the buzzing of bees and the melodic songs of the birds.  We slowly approached a rustic, somewhat overgrown labyrinth carved into the grass and soil.  I had seen labyrinths before in more formal, indoor settings ~ but had never walked one in a meditative sort of way, asking for messages to come through. 

The quiet, almost cathedral-like setting of the tall fir trees with the afternoon sun filtering through helped to set a tone of contemplation as I stepped onto the path.   I started to walk slowly, putting one foot carefully in front of the other, surprised at the concentration and balance required to keep from tipping over.  As I rounded the first turn, I began to feel a sense of calm float through my body.  I thought of my Angels and thanked them for revealing to me anything that would be of guidance to me. I could see I was heading in towards the center of the labyrinth, and, in my human, calculation-loving way, felt pleased that I was ‘making progress.’ 

I started to focus more intently on each lovely rock that had been laid down along the edges of the narrow path, thinking about the hands that may have carefully put them there. This thought seemed to increase my feeling of reflection, and a sense of reverence began to flow through me.

As I rounded a turn near the center and took the next few steps, I suddenly realized that I was no longer heading into the center of the labyrinth but was being led back out. This was so unexpected that I was engulfed by a feeling of almost panic. ‘I must be doing something wrong!’ I thought in dismay, and was tempted to just step out of the maze and quit.  But then I heard a message from within beginning to surface, ‘Trust,’ it said, and so I continued.

I breathed through the lingering anxiety as I persisted going the ‘wrong way,’ but soon rounded another turn and was again heading back inward, towards the center of the labyrinth.  A sense of relief filled me, and with it came another message, ‘There is no wrong way.’ I didn’t quite understand this but decided to just let it be.

I again tuned into the feeling of reverence in the stillness as I made the final turn on the path and stepped into the center of the labyrinth.  I paused there and took some slow, deep breaths, quietly waiting to see if another message would come through.  And then I heard it, a gentle, loving voice saying, ‘Stay on the path even when you don’t know where it is going. Trust… and just take one step at a time.’  This message was so powerful that I was flooded with a deep sense of calm and reassurance and the certainty that everything is going to be alright, that everything is always alright.

I looked up into the deep blue sky, breathing in the pine-scented air, my heart filled with gratitude and whispered, ‘Thank you, Angels.’ 

And every time since, when I have felt anxiety or uncertainty about some situation or upcoming change, this message resurfaces in my consciousness. ‘Stay on the path even when you don’t know where it’s going. Trust…. and take one step at a time.’

July 22, 2021