In the year 2017 I took the first step on a journey that continues to unfold. It was Lent. A season associated with eating fish on Fridays and giving things up for 40 days, like television or sweets. Penance, I guess. But there is more.

Lent can be a time for renewal, for growth, for trying out new things. In 2017 First Congregational United Church of Christ in Sarasota offered FEAST: friends eating and studying together one day a week during Lent. Lots of choices. I picked the spiritual path course. Coming together for the first week we boarded the church bus and headed for St. Boniface on Siesta Key. There we gathered around their labyrinth, the first I had ever seen.

Labyrinths are ancient. Some say the twisting curves represent the journey of life. Walking this path can be a way to heal, to destress, to meditate and entertain transformation. Walking labyrinths are listed as a choice under alternative therapies along with yoga and Pilates. Grief counselors often recommend walking a labyrinth to clients to help them heal. You get the idea.

A labyrinth is not a maze. You cannot get lost. There is one path winding its way to the center. The same path returns to where you started. One at a time we stepped on the path. Our feet did the walking. It took focus to stay on the path as it circled around, coming close to the center, then far away, then back again and finally standing at the center. Deep breath. Return the way we came.

Afterwards we adjourned to the fellowship hall for tea and cookies. A church member talked about the labyrinth and how she hoped someday to see a labyrinth trail in Florida. I sat up like a bird dog – head up, tail out, catching the scent. Oh yes, I get this. Already written books about walks around Florida.

And so, it began. For a year I walked labyrinths all over Florida, 138 in all and 95 made the cut for my book entitled Circling the Center Labyrinths in Florida. I called that church member and asked to connect for coffee. We met. I said this book was all because of her words that day.

No. That was her response! You don’t understand the nature of call, she said. Call has two parts – call and response. For years she had been issuing the call for a labyrinth trail at public events. Not one response. Until bird dog Lucy showed up, listened, and answered the call. Now you know. There are two parts to call – the call and the response.

Many were called to walk a labyrinth this past Saturday, May 4, on World Labyrinth Day and they responded. It is always the first Saturday in May. The motto is: walk as one at 1 p.m. whatever your time zone. So, a rolling tide of peaceful energy encircled the globe on Saturday.

A friend and I walked the Unity of Venice, Florida labyrinth, stepping on the path at 1 p.m. on Saturday, May 4. The numbers are not in yet but surely that amount of positive energy helped lower the rising trend towards violence that runs through our cultures – labyrinth activism!

Should you wish to walk a labyrinth, start with the worldwide labyrinth locator. Type in your location and see if there are labyrinths in your neighborhood. Or if traveling, look at your destination for labyrinths.

While researching my labyrinth book I met a labyrinth maker who told me he and his wife were in Las Vegas on a tour and the agenda had local suggestions, including walking a labyrinth. That was new. They walked the walk and went looking for more. Just FYI there are seven labyrinths listed in Las Vegas. One thing led to another. Eventually they bought the empty property next to their house here in Florida. His wife gave him a huge pile of rocks as a birthday present – they became the outline of a path for a labyrinth on that next door property.

I invite you to step on the path this summer. Find a labyrinth near you. Walk the walk. Every time it surprises me to realize I am smiling when I finish a labyrinth walk. It is that kind of experience. Go for it.

www.LucyTobias.com

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Wednesday Notes, May 8, 2024

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