Parking Garage as labyrinth...

It can work...walking the parking garage everyday for the past 2 weeks, it just occurred to me that it is very much like a labyrinth....with the added benefit up having to walk up, which adds to the calories burned.

Walking is a very calming activity to me...I'm not much for speed walking, and depending on my mood of the day, I might move pretty darned slow...but a moderate pace seems to work most days, and helps me to work out the stuff in my head and heart. Scripture says to "work out your salvation with fear and trembling..." Growing up in the church, I always associated that (and other verses) as meaning that God was someone to be feared...as a child, what else could you take from the words "fear and trembling"? Nowadays, I'm trying to work out my salvation, absent the fear of reprisal and retribution that characterized my childhood understanding of God.

Still...working out my salvation has been no easy task in recent years...did you know that there are more than 37,000 Protestant sects and denominations? It boggles the mind that we could have so many thousands of perspectives on scripture, God, and Jesus. How does one know the way to work out your salvation? In contemplative practice, there is a different idea about how this works...and it has to do with sitting completely still, and doing nothing...also...saying nothing. For those who have practiced contemplative prayer for many years (I am not one of those folks, by the way...but a novice), there does seem to be a sense of peace, and of connectedness to God that is unique among Christians I have known. Is it possible that sitting completely still and silent for 15-20 minutes everyday could help us "work out our salvation?" Maybe so.

As I walk the garage another day, I know that walking around in circles without saying anything seems to be helping me...somehow...however mysteriously...it seems to make a difference.