Maze Or Labyrinth: Which Will You Choose?
“You hem me in behind and before and lay your hand upon me.” Ps 139:5
I went into the coaching session optimistic, but left frustrated.
It was the beginning of a new year, and I had done all my vision-casting work ahead of time. I had looked back and celebrated the blessings of the year past. I had looked ahead at 2026 and written down my priorities. I carried my notes into the session fully expecting to walk out with a clear plan.
But I didn’t.
I felt joyful about the year ahead—and also deeply agitated. After putting my shoulder to the wheel in these empty-nest years to become what God had called me to be, I felt just as uncertain about the year ahead as I had one year ago, facing publishing challenges, five years ago, drafting the book, and ten years ago, beginning my spiritual direction training.
By now, I thought I would see the path ahead more clearly. That I wouldn’t be gazing into a new year feeling like I had dropped my glasses.
Somehow, I had come to believe that I shouldn’t struggle with clarity. With all the examples in Scripture—and from the lives of the spiritual giants I’ve studied and watched others walk with—I honestly don’t know where I got that idea.
The apostle Paul names our experience perfectly in 1 Corinthians 13:12 (The Message):
“We don’t yet see things clearly.
We’re squinting in a fog, peering through a mist.
But it won’t be long before the weather clears
and the sun shines bright!
We’ll see it all then, see it all as clearly as God sees us…”
As intimate as Paul was with Christ, he often wrote to the churches that he planned to visit, only to have his plans change. Again and again, the farthest he could see was the step right in front of him.
The life of faith has never been about seeing clearly far down the trail. It’s about trusting the One who shines light on our next step—and letting that be enough.
Striving to know our path farther down the trail is a form of control. Control is our human attempt to make ourselves “Lord”, to determine our own way, and to keep ourselves safe.
But control is a burden we were never meant to carry.
When God keeps us from seeing farther down the trail, He’s offering us a gift-the gift of living freely and lightly like children—while He carries the weight of what lies ahead.
A Better Way
I’m a firm believer in planning, strategy, and execution, but what if God is inviting us to live less like we’re navigating a maze and more like we’re walking a labyrinth.
A labyrinth is a circular path in which “a person is invited to move slowly and intentionally … towards the center … releasing their worries and concerns along the way …” The Sabbath Way, by Travis West
Unlike a maze, a labyrinth has no wrong turns. There’s no way to get lost. All you have to do is keep putting one foot in front of the other. You don’t know what the path ahead will look like beyond the next turn, or how long it will take to reach the center. But you know that you will, in God’s time.
Along the way, you can release anxiety. You can follow the path playfully. You can celebrate the shrubs hemming you in on the right and left, guiding you forward. You can enjoy the bugs and butterflies, the grass underfoot, the birds overhead, the open sky above—and relish each step as it unfolds.
I’ll take the labyrinth life instead of the maze any day!
So, if you’re like me—trying hard to gain clarity far down the road—today let this truth settle gently into your soul:
You were never meant to see farther than the step right in front of you.
The Lord is with you -- inviting you into the glorious labyrinth of 2026.
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