A Sacred Journey

This is our most unique “campsite” yet – parked directly alongside a labyrinth on the peaceful property of Unity of Mills River in the Blue Ridge Mountains near Asheville, North Carolina.  I love labyrinths – a meditative tool used for introspection and transformation.  Walking slowly toward the center is a time of letting go.  The center is a place to experience the presence of Spirit and receive insights about life situations.  Returning from the center is a time of renewal and integration.

We arrived here today after almost 8 hours on the highway.  What a treat to walk the labyrinth after dinner.  I was almost to the center when I spotted a small token on the path before me.  It was heart-shaped, and someone had written the word “Love” on it.  I picked up the heart and held it as I contemplated all the ways love continues to show up in my life.  For a brief instant I entertained the thought of keeping the heart as a reminder of the moment, but I knew the heart was meant for others to find.  I also knew that I was meant to “carry the love forward,” so I carried it the rest of the way to the epicenter of the labyrinth.

As I knelt to leave the heart-token on the small white stones, I experienced a flashback that left me flooded with emotion.  I had knelt just like that, with my fingers touching the ground, eight years earlier at another location in North Carolina.  It was 400 miles to the east, at Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point.  I was kneeling at the exact place on the flight line where our Susan was struck and killed by lightning.  By touching that sacred spot, I somehow felt closer to her.
  
At that time, I didn’t know if the spirit survives death.  All I could do was hope and have faith.  Today I am known as a “messenger of hope,” speaking and writing about the evidence that Susan and so many others on the other side have shared to let us know that love is eternal and that love is the true center of each of us.  It has truly been a transformational journey.

Thanks for the gift, Susan.  I’m here in North Carolina tonight because of you.