For at least twenty years, I have enjoyed walking labyrinths. Labyrinths are maze-like structures that have been used as spiritual tools for centuries. For the past seven years, I’ve been walking labyrinths throughout the northeastern United States, and blogging about them. To learn more about labyrinths, check out this page at the Labyrinth Society. To find labyrinths near you, try the Worldwide Labyrinth Locator.

Last Monday, I was driving through Montgomery County, just outside Philadelphia, walking labyrinths. The fifth labyrinth I walked that day was at Temple University – Ambler Campus. By this point, I was starting to get a little weary. Not so much physically — I had stopped at several Wawas already for nourishment and caffeine — but emotionally.

Whenever I enter a labyrinth, I ask a question. And without fail, during my walk, I receive a response of some sort to that question. So far that morning, the questions had concerned some pretty heavy stuff, connected to my depression and my spiritual journey. That’s certainly not unusual for me, but at this point I was ready for something lighter.

So I approached this labyrinth with the question, How can I make my daily routine more meaningful? I have struggled for a long time with a morning devotional ritual that really isn’t meaningful for me anymore. I read the scripture readings from the Daily Lectionary, but it’s just become a rote exercise. I can’t find meaning in it anymore. And I just haven’t been able to find something to replace it with.

When I found the labyrinth at Temple, I was surprised at how small and simple it was. Just three circuits, of a design I wasn’t familiar with. I began to walk this simple labyrinth, with my simple question, and I found a simple answer:

Treat my days like a labyrinth. I can start my day with a question, just like with a labyrinth. And I can end my day by journaling, just like a labyrinth. (Whether or not I intend to blog about a labyrinth journey, I never consider the walk complete until I have sat down with my journal and written for a time about what I experienced.)

So what I decided I’d do is continue to read the daily lectionary readings, but each morning, identify a question from those readings. I won’t try to answer the question right away; instead, I’ll pray that I will find an answer throughout the day. And then in the evening, right before bed, I will spend a few minutes journaling about the question, reflecting about where I found some answers during the day.

If I can trust that I’ll always find meaning within a labyrinth, perhaps I can also learn to trust that I will always find meaning throughout the day.

Do you have any ideas how you might add some meaning into your daily ritual? Leave them in the comments!