40 Ways My Labyrinth is Like My Life--#7

7. It requires endless maintenance, much of it on my knees!

This is one of the Facts of Life as well as of labyrinth care, which is often fun, but sometimes. . . not so much. The labyrinth, particularly as I’ve chosen to have it, neat, stone-lined paths with grass and fruit trees and berry vines in between, is a lot of work! It involves wheelbarrows and diggers and bags and bags of “Mountain Pebbles” and bending and kneeling and lawnmowers and string trimmers and muscles and sweat and tears and yes, sometimes some blood. And, for me, lots of prayer, too. And after a long stretch of all of the above, the neatness lasts about ten minutes!

As a Fact of Life, this endless maintenance means that I must bear in mind that I am a four-fold (at least!) being, and care for all those facets of myself. My body is, in many ways, easiest to care for because it’s visible. So it needs good food, good water inside and out, fresh air and sunshine, exercise, rest, and so on.

However, different people have trouble with different facets of self-maintenance, so for some, care of the body may be the hardest. Part of the reason for this is intrinsic to the four-fold self. We also have minds, hearts, and spirits. This is really not good wording, because these are, of course anything but separate parts. Facets is a little better, but we are one in a way we really can’t quite define, much as the various faces of Godhood are One in ways we can’t define or understand.

So take one of those physical necessities—food, let’s say. The body needs xyz nutrients, and if we knew enough about nutrition, which we do not, they could be just as well taken in pill form. But the heart (which I’m using to denote feelings, emotions, soul, personality) needs those nutrients to taste delicious and look colorful and inviting. The mind wants to know that they are well-balanced, cooked just enough, the right amount, and eaten at the right times. The spirit (which is not a separate facet at all, really, but is the whole self at one with itself) is happiest when It considers how and where the food was grown, who grew it, prepared it, and got it here, Who gave it to the world and to all of us, and honors all of those in the best way it knows. The spirit is even happier when it can share the food with some friends and maybe someone who needs good food and can’t get it, though a healthy spirit also loves to eat alone and can do so mindfully.

None of this can be well accomplished without spending a lot of time in communion with the Maker. In fact, the goal is constant, unbroken communion. My labyrinth can help with that and re-center me when I need it.