For Wilshire Baptist Church
Last Wednesday morning I walked the labyrinth at St. Joseph Catholic Church in Richardson on what would have been my first wife Debra’s 62nd birthday. Because of cancer, she’ll forever be 48. That church and the labyrinth were a place of peace for Debra in life but also during illness. After she passed, her friends had her name engraved on one of the stones that borders the labyrinth, which makes it a place of remembrance for me.
The full-size Chartres-style labyrinth sits in a courtyard and is encircled by a columbarium wall of blue-gray slate inscribed with names of those who have been inurned there. It’s a beautiful place, but the summertime sunlight can turn it into a frying pan of sorts, so I went early as usual. Entering and following the winding path of slate through the mowed and edged borders of green Bermuda grass, I said some prayers, starting with the Lord’s Prayer until my mind emptied and I was just walking without thinking.
I usually walk with my head down to focus on the path in front of me and to not be distracted by anything else, and when I got to the center of the labyrinth, I was surprised to find the large disk of slate in the middle covered in a sheet of water. I’m guessing it was the remains from an early morning sprinkler run, although all the other stones on the winding path were bone dry.
The labyrinth means different things to different people. For me, the walk to the center is a time for letting go of worries and concerns, and the center is a place for being quiet and listening. This time, in the wet center I felt like I was standing in a sort of spiritual dew. Looking down at my feet, I imagined my body absorbing that dew and it rising up through me and cooling my soul.
I never get to stay in the center as long as I’d like, but with the sun rising and appointments on the calendar, it was time to go. As I walked back out onto the path and began the journey to the exit, I noticed I was leaving behind damp footprints. When I got to the end of the path, I looked back and saw that my first four to five steps were still visible but they faded after that.
I think sometimes we get our souls wet in these spiritual moments and then it doesn’t take much time at all to get busy and distracted. Much too soon, our soles are dry and our souls feel thirsty again. But a labyrinth isn’t intended to be a place of eternal rest; it’s a place of meditation and refreshment to be visited as often as needed.
In case you don’t know, Wilshire has a labyrinth in the columbarium garden behind the church at the corner of Ravendale and Springside lanes. It’s not as big as the labyrinth at St. Joseph, but it is just as special and meaningful. For those with loved ones and friends inurned there, it is a place of remembrance. But for anyone, it can be a place of quiet and meditation that can be visited whenever the spirit calls. The gates are open on Sundays and from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. on weekdays. With a fountain that flows continually nearby, you may not get your feet wet with spiritual dew, but the sound of bubbling water adds a coolness to the visit.