Walking by Faith in a Maze of Hay

This past weekend, the family went on a little trip to the Bronx Zoo (free tickets for corporate weekend, yeah!) and were joined by a couple of friends and their baby daughter. The weather was perfect, and the kids enjoyed looking at birds, bison, tigers, giraffes, bears, wild dogs, assorted reptiles and seals. Daniel and Sarah also went on a short camel ride, bringing back memories of the very same ride that I had taken on a visit to the Bronx Zoo as a kindergardener.

But it seemed like the most enjoyable part of the outing for Daniel and Sophia was running through a little maze of hay which was part of a number of "seasonalized" exhibits around the zoo. They were playing an impromptu game of hide and seek where Daniel and Sarah quickly scampered into the maze and Sophia, who isn't quite as fast, would scurry in their wake and look for them. The hay maze was uniformly around two feet high - just high enough so that Sophia couldn't see at all over the walls, Daniel could see a little over the walls, and I could survey the entire maze.

I stuck by Sophia, trying to keep up with her as she frantically looked for Sarah and Daniel. "Mommy? Mommy?" "Daniel? Daniel?" Her cries grew increasingly angst-ridden as she continued to desperately find them. She scampered back and forth from hay-corridor to hay-corridor in vain, growing more and more upset at not seeing the familiarity of her mother or brother. I tried to comfort her and assure her that they were close by, but only until she let me direct her through the maze to find them or picked her up to bring her to them was she at peace.

It dawned upon me that I had experienced a little spiritual parable here. I realized that we are all very much like Sophia - unable to see the forest from the trees and inclined to run anxiously to and fro in a desperate attempt to find what we're looking for. There are limits to our finite knowledge and perspective, and there is a temptation to despair at an uncertain future out of our control.

But if we only would set our eyes upon Jesus, our Good Shepherd, who sees the entire maze around us, and look to Him for direction and strength. We can rest upon Him and allow Him to carry us through the journey - a journey which He not only knows but has lovingly and carefully crafted. "For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." - Jeremiah 29:11

Here's where the analogy and parable diverges. Sophia will mature and as she grows taller, she'll be able to survey more and more of the maze around her, giving her a better sense of where to go. The spiritual truth is that if we are to truly mature in the faith, we'll realize more and more how utterly unable we are to do anything without God's leading and power, and look increasingly to Him.