I put together a Prayer Labyrinth for our local faith community and it opened last night. I did it for our students, but it is such work that I thought that I would open it to the community at large for the next 3 days. Last night we had 48 teens and adults use the labyrinth. Tonight we will have another 20 or so adults use it. Almost to a person, everyone comes out and talks about how awesome an experience it is. They feel "closer to God," or "at peace," or "like I really worshipped." It happens all the time: a special event that people look forward to and they encounter God; touching them in a meaningful way.
But from here, they will go back to doing things the way they always have. You know what I mean? It's like the "after youth camp" experience. Tears, movement, devotion, promises of change, deeper appreciation for God. Then a couple weeks later...same old same old. Is the answer to have more camps or more labyrinths or more special events more often? I hope not because I won't survive that! But why can't we see the commonalities in these events that make them so special for us? Why can't we build those commonalities into our daily lives so that a deep worship experience is the norm? Should it be the norm? One of my teenagers hung back after finishing the labyrinth experience. He said it was AWESOME! I asked him, "What made it awesome?" He replied, "It was great to slow down and linger on a thought. It was nice to have quiet and time to think."
"Why can't you do that every day?" I chided back. And that's when it clicked for him.
"I guess I can."
"And should," I added. Don't wait for someone else to set the table. Pull up a chair to God's table. Deep meaningful worship of Him on a regular and ongoing basis should be an everyday part of your diet.
