Open Before God

I realized it would be a much longer night if I decorated complete labyrinths on all the cookies, so I switched to a larger decorating tip and streamlined the design. These are in celebration of our first labyrinth walk at Ladue Chapel. The simpler cookie design is actually the center of a completed classical labyrinth. Ask me and I’ll show you how to draw one. Doodling in this way, like moving around the path of a labyrinth, can help to free our minds and allow space for God.

Presbyterian theologian, Craig Dykstra, observed, “You can also ‘know’ things while meditatively walking the circuitous path of a canvas labyrinth which you can’t know sitting still. The very action of walking serves to still our thoughts, allowing space for God amid the usually jam-packed confines of our minds. The unpredictability of the labyrinth’s twists and turns helps us to relinquish our need to feel ‘in control’ and to acknowledge our dependence upon God. The certainty of reaching the center inspires us to trust in God’s providence. All of these things can serve to draw us into a genuine experience of prayer – of allowing our hearts to lay ‘open before God.’”