Follow Your Fire

Every morning as the tide makes its retreat at Sunset Beach, North Carolina, a man known as the "maze man" begins his craft. At the 12th street access, he charts out a puzzle for passersby to engage. This past summer, my friend and I decided to take our morning run on the beach and we were able to accept the challenge of the maze. Just prior to our arrival, a woman had successfully completed the maze and she was exuberant about her success. I began to enter the maze and was making excellent progress when the woman decided that I, apparently, needed help. She approached me with her unsolicited advice to "follow the wall" (referring to one side of the lines the "maze man" had outlined.) It became apparent to me that she was determined that I follow her advice and I knew in that moment that successful completion was not going to be mine. I decided that it was better to be kind rather than to ignore her instruction. Her persistence, it seemed to me, was not going to aid me in the long run. In my concession to her instruction, I found myself back at the beginning of the maze while my friend (perplexed about my progress) had reached the end.

Daily, people and things jockey for our attention. Forces are constantly working to influence us in one direction or another. The question is always before us as to whether we will concede to the flowing in of others' persuasions or if we will tap into the fire that burns within us.

I have always loved words and their meanings. The word influence has a history in medieval Latin as meaning "a flowing in." That sense of information flowing in floods our minds, our spirits, and our inboxes with a mind-boggling constancy. The woman on the beach meant well. She thought she had found the key to the labyrinthine experience. She thought it would work for everyone and she simply wanted to help. What she did not understand was that what influences us so impactfully may not influence another in the same way. Had I been allowed to go about my business, I have no doubt I would have exited the maze as my friend but I opted to sacrifice my success to attain a modicum of peace for myself in the moment.

Recently, my friend, Deb Mullen suggested that I needed to "follow the fire in my belly." That is the sort of influence that I need in my life. There is something inspiring in someone who recognizes that they do not have the answers. Rather, her recognition was that the answers are woven into the core of our beings.

How often do we let the influence of others sway us? How often do we ignore the messages our core selves long for us to follow just to attain some momentary peace? Sometimes, the choice to follow an external locus of authority serves us well if the advice is born of wisdom. Sometimes, our surrender to the agendas of others, though, can lead us down paths that slowly wear away at our joy and direct us away from our God given leanings. If we are willing to walk the maze of our internal labyrinths to unearth the fire that burns in us, we have to realize the value of the locus of authority within us. We have to have the courage to know and trust our intuitive nudging. If we do, I have to think that the mazes of this life will be far more easily navigated when we follow our own fires.