Tonight we went through a 15 acre corn maze that was created to celebrate 100 years of scouting. I am a huge supporter of scouting, so naturally I wanted to go. We took our family plus 2 of my daughters friends for her birthday. We were all excited! The corn had grown so tall, almost 8 1/2 feet. So, you can imagine a shorty like myself not being able to see anything but corn...corn...corn!!
When we arrived, there was a guide to give us specific instructions. We had to listen very carefully or there might be important information we missed! There were several mazes in and of itself. They ranged from very easy mazes that didn't take long; to very difficult mazes that took 3-4 hours to complete. We were given a color coded map and a folded card to also find clues to who killed the "farmer"....kind of like a game of Clue where you have to narrow down who killed who with what and where. We split into 3 groups and off we went very confident that we all knew exactly what we were doing and where we were going. Afterall, it wasn't dark...yet, and we decided to participate in a relatively easy maze that would take about an hour....so we thought!
In our group was my husband, myself and our two youngest children. My oldest daughter and her friend were together and my oldest son and his friend were together. Each of us took a different direction and were suppose to end up at the end together. We could hear the laughter of our other groups as they were so excited to find the clues first. It was such a fun competition!
As we started off, we quickly found one of the clues! We were confident that we would breeze right through the maze. Afterall, my husband was our fearless navigator so we were in good hands right? Following the map wasn't as easy as it looked. What seemed the right way to turn sometimes led us to a dead end. Other times, we found exactly what we were looking for. The further we got in the maze the more we realized that we couldn't just turn back . We had to keep pressing forward! At times, nothing looked familiar and other times I could have sworn we had JUST seen this very row of corn! Every so often, we could hear our other groups trying to navigate their way. I could hear them say "Should we go this way or that way? It all looks the same!" or " I know we have been here before, why can't we find our way out?"
As time went on, it started to get dark. We realized that we weren't as prepared as we thought we were. When we had started, we thought for sure we would be done before it got dark. That was our first mistake! Second, we did not come prepared just in case it got dark. Although there were flood lamps high above the corn maze, it only would give light to some parts. Other parts of the maze were pitch black. We soon realized how valuable a flashlight would have been to us and started to use the light from our cell phone to direct us. Then we realized that it was so much easier to navigate in the light. In the darkness, we felt completely helpless. My youngest child finally said to me "Mom, you know about Jack the scarecrow don't you? You KNOW he has a head made from a pumpkin and a body made from sticks right? You KNOW he is here to scare away the crows from the corn, but I think he is following US!" I could only imagine what tricks his young mind was playing on him and who gave the scarecrow the name Jack anyways? I reassured him we were not being followed and that we were safe. He kept saying that he couldn't see well in the dark and how much easier it was to see where we were walking in the light.
Finally, we realized we were lost. We could not find our way out the maze. We could no longer hear our other groups and realized that it had been well over an hour. Our younger children were tiring quickly and wanted to go home. I knew they were feeling scared and wrestless. My husband reassured them that if we stuck together, we would find out way out. We also knew that if we could find one of the clues that if we needed to, there was an emergency phone number to call and we could give them our location and helpers would come rescue us. We called our daughter on her phone and told her to find her way out and we would meet her at the entrance. We were relieved to find out that she had found our son and his friend and they were trying to get out together.
After awhile, we still could not find our way out. It seemed so simple and the map seemed so clear, but in the dark, we mine as well have been blind. Then a stroke of luck came. We could hear our daughter and son and their friends and soon we were reunited. We were all so happy to be together. Soon after, we found our way to the end......together! It was a great feeling. We felt relieved, happy and also proud of ourselves that we made it to the end. It was a great experience! Each one of our groups had a different experience and yet we also experienced many of the same emotions. We all experienced joy and excitement and yet we also experienced frustration and fear. In the end though, we all experienced relief and a sense of accomplishment and it was fabulous to experience the maze all together.
How does this relate to real life? Well, life is like a corn maze! Just like at the beginning of the corn maze we were given instructions and a map to help us on our journey, so it is in life! We have been given the gospel as our map with clues along the way like scriptures, prayer, families and a living prophet to help us on our journey. We are never alone! However, it was very important that when we were given instructions at the beginning of the maze, that we listened carefully and payed attention. How many times in life do we think we can bypass certain instructions and still come out on top? How many times do we block out promptings we receive because we have our eye on the wrong prize? Do we ever stop and ponder and discuss and have a game plan for our life? What happens when we don't? Does our journey through life ever take wrong turns? You bet! Do we ever feel lost like our life keeps going in circles and we aren't making progress?
One important parallel to life I made as we were going through the maze was the complete contrast of being able to find our way in the light vs. in the dark. It was a completely different experience. Where once confidence and excitement were our emotions, they were replaced with uncertaintly and fear once the darkness had set in and we weren't prepared for it. Isn't that how we feel when we can spiritually see the light? Don't we feel more confident when we have the light that the gospel brings to help navigate our course through life? How much more difficult is it when we try to muddle through life in the dark, so to speak! When you feel spiritually dark, isn't it easy for doubt and fear and frustration to take over where light once was?
Although it was dark, we made it through as we found sources of light to navigate our course. All was not lost! Although it was only a small light from a cell phone, it was light nonetheless! What source of light do we have in our lives to help navigate us in the dark? It is true...dark times will come. Are we prepared to meet them when they do or are you going to try and muddle your way through without a plan?
In the end, it was a joyous reunion as we all found each other and shared our different adventures. I KNOW it will be like this for us too in the end. I KNOW we will have wonderful stories to swap with one another about our joys and trials and learning. What a wonderful feeling to know that we all started together and although our experiences were different, they really were similar in many ways. We all started out with the same goal in mind, and that was to reach the end of the maze with a job well done. We all wanted to win and feel satisifed with our efforts. We all had a game plan and we all ended up together! And yet, our direction that we traveled was different. What a tremendous experience! I learned so much and my perspective on life was realigned once again with what is really important. It's about finding joy in the journey. It's about learning from our experiences and finding joy in sharing them with others. It's about failing and picking ourselves up and trying again. It's about perspective.....its' about real life!
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