If you have followed my blogpost for any length of time, then you might know that walking/praying a labyrinth is part of my spiritual practice.
My very first post about labyrinths was in 2010-- "Handmade rock labyrinths, listening, and a rule of life" There are 56 posts that mention labyrinths or are fully dedicated to labyrinths. There are posts about different labyrinths I have found in GA, NC, TN, FL. There are posts about World Labyrinth Day from several different years. You can search "labyrinth" on the blog and find them all. "Walking the path... my labyrinth experiences" is a post from 2014 about experiences up to that point. That was 12 years ago. I have had many more labyrinth experiences since then.
This post is entitled "The Making of a Labyrinth" as I share about a labyrinth I made recently for World Labyrinth Day. I have wanted to create a labyrinth for a long time. I have eyed my backyard and river stones for quite a while. Though I have helped build a labyrinth once with a garden hose for a retreat, I have not built one by myself. I take that back-- I have mowed partial labyrinths in my yard several times in both grass and leaves. :)
As the notion of creating a labyrinth grew inside me, I pulled up different models on my phone to get an idea of what to do. I knew I could only do a small one in the yard, so I planned to do a three circuit one. The Saturday prior to World Labyrinth Day I started. I placed rocks on the outside. Then I created the inside. I wasn't fully paying attention to what I was doing and noticed I had created a semi-heart shape. That was cool. It may not look like a heart to everyone, but it's close. (#SeeAHeartShareAHeart) Next steps were to keep going around and around. I didn't have enough rocks, so I used sticks to finish out the path. I don't know if you can tell by the pictures below where the sticks were. They were on the outside circuit.
On World Labyrinth Day, the following Saturday, I added more rocks.
The path is narrow in places, but it is walkable. There is a dip in the ground at the very beginning.
I recently mowed around it and weed-whacked the inside of the path.
Having a labyrinth in the backyard means I can walk it in the mornings with my coffee or in the evenings (often with coffee). It has allowed me to walk and pray more often. That has been good.
I don't see this labyrinth as a permanent feature, mainly because others share the back yard with me. They have been very gracious so far and haven't asked me to undo it. :)
Here are some photos of the labyrinth and the making of it. It's not perfect, but neither is the path of life. I am happy with the process and the result.
I haven't yet counted the rocks. It was a labor of love and an adventure to create this rock labyrinth.
Thanks for reading about it. :)
Debra
Here are photos of the process:
my model (top one)
how it started
next steps
Cliff enjoying the path
morning coffee
a squirrel enjoying the rock path
LINKS:
(There are MANY more links and resources out there from websites with articles and information, to videos, to books, etc.. These are just a few to get you started.)
I had a dream, a bucket list item, since I was a kid. It's an odd one, but it meant something to me. My grandfather "Papa" (Harry Guyton DeLoach) was Georgia State Forester back in the day. I heard stories of him going to Cuba to check out the pine trees and moving the Forestry Commission to Macon, GA. All my growing up life I wanted to go to the Georgia Forestry Commission in Macon. Why? Probably to connect with Papa.
Yesterday, that dream was realized.
What I didn't know is that the Georgia Forestry Commission is locked down behind fences with gates and a guard box. The guard told me one needed an appointment to get it. Oops. I had no idea what the place was like. I didn't know. We found a place to park out of the way and started calling. I called and got dispatch. I was transferred, but the call dropped and I didn't write down the number because I didn't have a writing utensil. I didn't give up though. I called back. I got someone else in dispatch and she was on site, as I was. Harper was an angel! I explained what I wanted and shared the dream of a granddaughter to visit the place that my Papa brought here from elsewhere in Georgia. She understood. She put me on hold and started calling different people. None were in their offices. Then she started on cell phones. She finally got Shanya who said she was available to escort us in. Woo hoo!
Shanya came to the gate by the guard house. I signed in with the guard and in we went. We went to the museum. I had hopes that I would find something connected to my Papa. I did. I found the dedication brochure for the Georgia Forestry Commission in 1952. His name was on that "Director Guyton DeLoach".
There were some old pictures and some of the old forestry magazines, but I don't think I saw him.
The museum was a log cabin with TONS of cool stuff inside. It was named after Director Howard E. Bennett. It had a life-size Smokey Bear, some cool hands-on educational stations and then different sections about trees, pine cones, fires and fire protection, equipment, etc. The history, the information, all of it was interesting. Then there were some old machinery in a pole barn next door. They were cool too.
The pine trees on the property near the museum were tall and majestic. There was one old pine on the ground. It had a sign near it, but I couldn't read it all. I saw some cool 'shrooms too.
Shanya told us that the property was Camp Wheeler back in the day. They occasionally find old artifacts from those days. I had seen something about Camp Wheeler in the museum, but didn't read all about it.
Papa inspired me to love nature. His home was surrounded by pine trees. He told me stories of the forestry days. He went back to being a farmer when he stopped the forestry world.
There are a few more things on my Papa dream list to accomplish. Cuba has been on my bucket list since he told me about flying there to check out the pine trees. I also want to go see him on the wall at the Georgia Forestry Hall of Fame in Athens, GA. I hope to one day accomplish both of these.
Below you will find information about the museum, the Georgia Forestry Commission, and my Papa (Harry Guyton DeLoach).
History of the Georgia Forestry Commission (PDF) [This document let me know the years my grandfather was director: "H. Guyton DeLoach was appointed State Forester in 1949 and retired in 1960."
I preached yesterday at Burks UMC. The topic and title was "Peace and Hope". The scripture was from Romans 5:1-8 (CEB).
The music by Roy Treiyer and Bradley Bee and the band were perfect for the service, as they typically are.
I knew one of the praise band songs, "Holy Spirit". The last song was new to me, but a powerful song and Bradley ended it with a "rip" on the piano. It was "Sing Wherever I Go" by We The Kingdom.
Lyrics:
All my life, all I know God's been good, good to my soul Mountain high, valley low I'm gonna sing wherever I go
Said all my life, all I know God's been good, good to my soul Mountain high, valley low I'm gonna sing wherever I go
God is for me, He's not against me I will hold to the plans He has for me When I'm broken, He will fix me I will call on the name of the Lord
Said all my life, all I know God's been good, good to my soul Mountain high, valley low I'm gonna sing wherever I go
He's my heart song in my sorrow He's my hope and my strength for tomorrow And when the storms rise all around me I will call on the name of the Lord (here we go)
All my life, all I know God's been good, good to my soul Mountain high, valley low I'm gonna sing wherever I go
Said all my life, all I know God's been good, good to my soul Mountain high, valley low I'm gonna sing wherever I go
I got joy, joy, joy Deep in my soul I will sing, sing, sing Wherever I go
All my life, all I know God's been good, good to my soul Mountain high, valley low I'm gonna sing wherever I go
All my life, all I know God's been good, good to my soul Mountain high, valley low I'm gonna sing wherever I go
------------------------------------------------
I enjoy preaching. It gives me life. It has since my first sermon in 1989. It has been a gift for me to be able to pulpit supply preach during my Voluntary Family Leave of Absence (VFLOA). My preaching averages out to almost once a month. When my schedule allows, I fill in for colleagues primarily in the UMC and the ELCA.
I have recently preached at Burks UMC three times-- Pentecost Sunday in May, a week ago in June and yesterday.
Here is yesterday's sermon. The transcript isn't always the exact version of what gets said in a service, but it is fairly close and gives you an idea. I invite you to read it, to see if anything catches your attention.
Peace!
Rev Deb
Sermon:
“Peace and Hope” Romans 5:1-8 (CEB) June 14, 2026 (3nr Sunday after Pentecost) Burks UMC
Will
you pray with me?
"God, open our hearts and minds
so we can fully receive the Truth we need to hear today. Kindle your Truth in
our hearts so others would see it revealed through our lives. Following Christ
we pray. AMEN.". (Prayer for Illumination)
As
we dig into today’s passage, here are some questions for us to consider:
·Where
do you need hope? Where do you find hope?
·Where
do you need peace? Where do you find peace?
·What
gives you hope? What gives you peace?
Verse
1 tells us that we have peace through Jesus Christ. It seems straight forward
and easy enough, doesn’t it? Yet, how do we access that peace?And before we can answer that question, maybe
we need to define what peace is.
Weekly
we pass the peace of Jesus Christ to one another in worship. What is it that we
are sharing? Jesus greeted the disciples with the expression “peace be with you”
in several Scriptures.
John
14:27—Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you.
John
20:19, 20—after Jesus’ resurrection, he went to the upper room where the disciples
were behind a closed door, Jesus appeared and said “Peace be with you”. He then
showed them his scars and said again, “Peace be with you.”
Jesus
is offering the disciples “peace”—tranquility and calm in times of chaos,
grief, uncertainty.
That’s
the peace we offer one another. It’s a peace that brings us together in unity,
it is a peace that shows we are reconciled to God and one another, it’s a peace
that transcends understanding.
Peace
is a fruit of the spirit (Galatians 5:22-23)
Peace
is used in opening and closing greetings in the writings of Paul and others.
Now
that we’ve looked at what it is, how do we access it? How and where do we find
it?
Peace
begins within us, in our inner beings. When we slow down, reflect on Scripture,
engage in other spiritual practices, we can experience peace.
Breath
prayers are a way to breathe in deeply and meditate on Scripture, focus on God.
“Be still and know that I am God.” Or “Peace, be still.” Are ones that are my
go-to verses. Let’s try the breath prayer. Breathing in, say the first part: “Peace”.
Breathing out, say the 2nd part: “be still”. Take deep breaths and
repeat it a few times.
Praying
a labyrinth can give us peace as we walk in to the center praying about the
people and situations on our minds. In the center we can “be” for a moment. In
walking back out we can give thanks to God for the things that come to mind.
That time with God always gives me peace. I enjoy the labyrinth we have here at
Burks, on the back of the property. It’s easily accessible and a good place to
even sit and “be” on the benches on the outside of the labyrinth. Labyrinth
prayer walk times are a top spiritual practice for me. So much so, that for
this year’s World Labyrinth day in May, I made a labyrinth out of rocks in our
back yard. It’s small. It doesn’t take long to pray it, but it offers me peace.
my rock labyrinth in my back yard
We
will find peace as we let go of the things we cannot control.
We
can find peace in nature—whether it is a special place or listening to the
birds outside. Being in and observing nature offers us peace. It calms us.
Maybe
there is another way that you find peace. Think about that. Do it.Engage in conversation with others to find
out their peace practices.
Last
week we sang “Praise ye the Lord” together.
We
could sing “Peace like a river” (I’ve got peace like a river in my soul) and do
the motions, but we won’t. J I will admit that I enjoy the
songs from “old” and VBS.
Hope.
Hope
comes at the end of a list in today’s passage in verse 4: “Endurance produces character and character
produces hope”. The endurance mentioned is through difficult times and
situations or trouble. So, basically, hope comes to us through the hard times.
That’s counterintuitive, right? We grow in hope as we go through difficult
times. How can that be?
Perspective.
It’s about perspective. When we are going through difficult times, we can recognize
that the situation, the moment isn’t the entire picture. We can look beyond the
circumstances, we can offer gratitude for things and people in the midst of
whatever we are going through.
Noticing
a birds’ nest with eggs, seeing the first hummingbird of the season, watching
the sunrise, seeing the plants bud and bloom. These are things that can offer
us hope.
Acts
of kindness offer us hope in humanity. As we do things for others and see
others doing things for others, hope grows.
I
mentioned offering gratitude. Some people keep a gratitude journal. They write
down 1-3 things a day for which they are thankful. Think of one thing right now
for which you are grateful. Write it down. (Ask people to share.) As we reflect
on gratitude, hope can not NOT grow.
Being
in community with others offers us hope. We share our struggles and our joys
with one another.
Romans
12:12 (CEV—Contemporary English Version) Let your hope make you glad. Be patient in time of trouble and never
stop praying.
As we practice peace and hope, we grow in peace
and hope. Not only will they become a part of us, they will overflow into the
lives of others.
As
the band comes to set up, I will share one more verse with you from Romans
15:13 that brings together today’s themes. Write down the reference. Look it up
later.
Romans
15:13--May the God
of hope fill you with all joy and peace in faith so that you overflow with hope
by the power of the Holy Spirit.
(Repeat it.)
Romans
15:13--May the God
of hope fill you with all joy and peace in faith so that you overflow with hope
by the power of the Holy Spirit.
Will you pray with me?
God of peace and hope, we don’t always feel peace
or hope. However, we believe that peace and hope can be ours. Help us find ways
to live into peace and hope, to be beacons of peace of hope for others. Fill us
with the joy, peace, and hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. Amen. DD 6/14/26
I wrote a post back in April, sharing the beginnings of my first stained glass repair. You can read it here.
When I was asked about the possibility of the repair, I knew my teacher could do it. I didn't know that she was going to have me do it. I sent her a picture of the cross and her response was to tell me I can do it.
And I did.
Not without tons of help though.
I learned lots from that repair. As I have already written, I experienced deconstruction in order to construct.
It took me about a month to get it done, putting in close to 12 hours on the project.
A repair is different from creation. I found myself wanting to honor the original creator's work and the desires of the owner as I moved through the process. That is probably normal. I also noticed that I wanted to strengthen the piece where possible, without changing how it looked.
Though I have improved on being able to breathe through on my own work, I noticed myself holding my breath more on the repair. Learning to let go, make mistakes, and keep going on a piece that meant something to someone else was a definite learning curve.
My teacher gave me advice and showed me lots of things along the repair. When I second guessed myself, she helped me talk it through.
In my first post I noted that the destruction part was satisfying. It was. Knowing that something broken had to be broken more in order to be fixed was a good lesson. I leaned into that part.
The time I spent with this repair was meaningful. I am grateful for the experience.
Stained glass work has a holy component to it for me. It isn't just a hobby or physical activity. It has become a spiritual practice that allows me to practice breathing, creativity, and much more.
You can take a look at the photos below of the finished piece and some of the process.
I started this post, part 3 of my Strength for the Journey week, WEEKS ago. on May 2nd. I am finally getting around to finishing it. I wanted to share some of what I learned from the speakers, workshops, etc. Part of what is below was previously written. I take up today below the information on the tie-dye ice hats.
As I reflect on the past week at Steiner Bell Lodge with Strength for the Journey, I am full. My heart, mind, and soul became filled through connections, conversations, worship, learning, campfires, hiking, doing crafts, sitting in the rocking chairs looking at the view, blowing bubbles from the deck and watching the wind take them away. I am full of gratitude for the opportunity to serve on the retreat team.
I was a tad apprehensive about going. Not because of the people. I honestly don't know what was there in me to cause that. It could have been the unknown-- a new place, serving on a team and only knowing a few people, not fully knowing what to expect.
But, any ounce of apprehension quickly melted away and was replaced with peace once I got there.
In my 2nd post, I mentioned how accepted I felt. I felt seen, heard, and loved. That's an incredible feeling.
Every time we worshipped, we sang "Draw the Circle Wide". This song is written by Gordon Light and the tune is by Mark Miller. I've written about it three times before, have used it in a celebration of life service, and have heard it in several places. It is a perfect song for Strength for the Journey. It can be found in Worship & Song, #3154
(handout used for celebration of life service)
one of many versions found on YouTube
I have notes from our speakers and worship times to go back over to see what else caught my attention during the week.
The ice tie-dye craft was fun! I enjoy tie-dye and have made a shirt, but I mostly buy from others. To make my own hat was pretty cool. One doesn't quite know how the colors are going to turn out, so it's a "wait and see" experiment.
Here are some photos from that:
Everyone's hat turned out so cool! There is something about doing a project together with others that is not only fun, but uplifting.
We had other activities too-- a card making craft. Small artist cards. You could be as creative as you wanted to be. There were stamps, you could cut out pictures, there were stickers, ETC. These small cards are fun to make and there's a world out there that makes them, trades them, and collects them. I just had fun making one and seeing what everyone else did. Here is mine:
Have I mentioned the campfires yet? If I have, please indulge me. :) We had campfires for three of the nights, as the weather co-operated. Campfire time was a time to relax, sing, share about the day, and hang out with one another. Colored flames added to the fun. The music was great It's a tad difficult for me to put in words how meaningful this time was. I have always enjoyed campfire time-- from camping out with my family to attending and working camps throughout my life. There is something special about this time. Here are a few photos of our campfires:
Here is the altar in our worship space for the week. Things were added along the way, but this is the only photo I took. I really liked the Guatemalan cloths.
I looked up my notes in one of the notebooks, as I cannot find the other one right now. :)
We each got this notebook for the week:
Here are some of the things that stood out to me in the various speaker sessions, worship, etc.
Find the genuine in you and embrace it. This caused me to reflect-- what IS my genuine? I wrote down "play, authenticity, in creation". I imagine there is more to unpack there, but for now I'm just writing down some of the notes.
In the wilderness, look for trail markers-- blazes, maps, cairns, clouds, pillars of fire. 'You never know what events will lead you home.'
Isaiah 43:14-19. God makes a way. God does a new thing. We will find God in liberation, in the place of wilderness. We can not do the wilderness journey on our own.
It's okay to be afraid in the wilderness.
Those are just a few of the notes I took. I am sure I absorbed much more than that.
Here's what was written about wilderness on a handout. I am not sure who wrote it, compiled it, or from whence it came. But, it is a great statement about wilderness:
"Wilderness is a time or place where we encounter what is new, strange, scary, lonely, unknown or mysterious. The wilderness is a wild and beautiful time and place where we can discover the sacred within each person and all creation. The wilderness can inspire us and guide us, assuring us of God's constant presence. As the Spirit guides us through the wilderness, we find what we need to face our fears and the very real challenges that impact our world. The wilderness teaches us the importance of community and the ways we navigate challenges together. The wilderness reveals our strengths, growing edges, and potential as God equips us for the unknown still to come. The wilderness awaits us all, ang God meets us there."
I could probably write more about my time with Strength for the Journey, but I think I will stop now. There is so much within me for which I am grateful for this opportunity to attend. To all the "campers", thank you for sharing your time for the week. There were many meaningful conversations. To all the staff, thank you for all the work done in preparation and during the week. Everyone pitched in and did their part to make this happen. I look forward to being with and working with all of you again.
In closing, here are some pictures from my time in the wilderness, on the trail we hiked on Thursday. It was at the Greenbrier entrance of the Smoky Mountains. The trail took us by a creek and up to a cabin. There was a cemetery along the way, lots of cool nature things, such as rocks and more.
