The Christian life is not a maze.

I spent about an hour working through the prayer labyrinth set up in our church's gym during last week's Holy Week. The handout at the entrance explained that a labyrinth is different than a maze. A maze is designed to be confusing and mysterious. There are lots of dead-ends and misdirection in a maze. The labyrinth by contrast is a single path that leads deliberately, albeit circuitously, toward the center.  I'd seen labyrinths before and had even scrambled my through them a time or two, but I'd never pondered the difference between labyrinth and maze.

A couple of friends and I have been memorizing 1 Corinthians 13:4-7. So I chose to meditate on those words as I went through the labyrinth. I paused at every turn in the labyrinth and slowly repeated the verses.

Two things struck me. First, it took a long time to get from the entrance of the labyrinth to the center. Second, my apparent closeness or distance from the center of the labyrinth was not necessarily how close or distant I was actually from the center. The path would lead me apparently closer to the center only then to lead me apparently away from the center. In the labyrinth, I eventually ended at the center, but there were points at the beginning when I was quite close to the center and points toward the end when I was quite far from the center. For these reasons I was glad to have read about the difference between a maze and a labyrinth. I kept reminding myself, "I am not in a maze toward nowhere. I am on a path toward the center."

I get frustrated and discouraged in my walk with Christ because sometimes it feels more like a maze than a purpose-filled path. I tend to judge my spiritual progress by how close or distant I feel from the Center. However, the labyrinth taught me that my perception of closeness or distance is an unreliable barometer of progress.

The Apostle Paul assures us in Philippians 1:6 that the work God begins in us God finishes in us. Wow! That's good news. In Christ's grip of grace, Jesus promises to lead me closer and closer to the Center. Sometimes that journey leads to a place where God feels distant and removed. Other times the journey leads to a place where God feels very close and present. The point is, near and far; close and distant; hardship and joy; confusion and clarity; gain and loss I am not in a maze. I'm on a path toward the Center in the sure grip God's grace in Jesus Christ.