The Labyrinth, an Easter Adventure

I originally shared this post two years ago after an enjoyable trip to the coast. I consider it to be a wonderful Good Friday meditation.

Last week I was generously invited to join a group of friends who have been meeting every year for decades to whale watch at Point Arena Lighthouse. On our third day there, we hiked over to a labyrinth that they remembered from previous visits.  From a distance this labyrinth appeared to be poorly maintained, and perhaps in disrepair, but once we started walking I could see it was meticulously designed and beautifully constructed.  It was easy to follow.  It was dedicated to Alpha Ursae Minoris, which I learned from a bit of googling is the North Star!  Isn’t that wonderful?  

Before we began, my friend Lucy suggested it is traditional to make a wish that one might contemplate as we walk.  Some might call it “setting an intention.”  Ah, a wish!  Such a magical thing.  I thought about it and decided what I really want is a good strong story that might become the basis for a novel.  My companions were equally thoughtful.  And so we entered the labyrinth.

I had just come into the center, and was having a moment of contemplation, gazing at an engraved etching of the Bear Constellation when–literally out of the blue!—a Coast Guard Helicopter swooped in and landed at a helipad a few football fields away!! I mean RIGHT THERE!!  It was outrageous!  I can honestly say I’ve never had my meditation interrupted by a helicopter landing right next door before.  I felt a little miffed. 

Suddenly I realized:  my wish had been granted.  I hadn’t asked for a good mindful walk, I’d asked for a good story—and that’s what I got.  I don’t think I’ll be writing a novel about this helicopter, but I think the Universe was saying, Stop worrying!!  Stories follow you home like stray cats.  Yep.  For better or worse, that’s really my favorite thing.

It seems at this time of year, magic—and good stories—are everywhere.  As I’ve noted in previous spring posts, Easter reminds us that magic is possible.  If a man today claimed to have come back to life three days after being declared dead, we probably wouldn’t believe it.  We’d assume it was some kind of a scam.  It would be easy to explain away Jesus’ resurrection too.  Maybe he wasn’t actually dead.  After all, they didn’t have all that electronic equipment to monitor brain waves and heart beats two thousand years ago.  The soldiers thought he was dead, so they didn’t break his legs.  Maybe he actually survived and his followers were able to revive him.

Or maybe he died, but his followers told such a convincing story and they got enough people to believe it and the next thing they knew they had the Catholic Church.  Maybe they should have thought a little harder before they went through with that!

Or maybe it happened just the way the Gospels say it happened.  Anything is possible.  In fact I believe everything is possible.  I believe that God manifests in whatever way each person will understand, as Jews and Muslims, Catholics and Evangelicals, as Pagans, Buddhists, Hindus, Wiccans, and so much more.  God may come to you as the sunrise or as a blue scrub jay or as your pet dog or cat.  She is in every human face you will see today.  And sometimes, quite often, God likes to remind me that she comes to me in my writing.  I’m blessed that way.

May you have a Blessed Good Friday, a Happy Easter, and a Wonderful Spring!

Original Photo by the Author