The Cornmaze

Several years ago, and when I say that I mean when I was around 10 or so, our family was on one of our annual vacations to New York visiting family. It was in the fall and all the leaves were changing colors and the air was cool. This particular visit we had the awesome pleasure of getting to see pretty much all my cousins, particularly my Cousins Josiah and Nathan and their family. 

    We had decided to go to a corn maze as a family activity on the weekend, but not just any Maze. Oh no, this was the biggest and most incredible Corn Maze that New York had to offer!! (at least that's how I remember it, I haven't been able to find a corn maze to match it since then) And as things usually roll when you have a large group of boys and girls we quickly decided that Boys vs Girls was definitely the way to roll for this. Whoever got to the end of the Maze first would be the winners, this was particularly enticing because at the end of the maze there was a podium with a Mic and you could yell across the whole maze on the speakers to whoever else is lost out there and taunt them that you won. 

Boys Team clearly had this in the bag. With our superior mapping skills and our perfect sense of direction we would be out of this thing and snacking on chips and Kool-Aid before dinner time!  

 We started around 4pm, there was still light as we entered into what we would soon realize was not so much a maze but more of a labyrinth.

 

 We wandered around... and around... and around.. Double checking our map, and doing our best to find the next path.(for those of you who don't know my family has an extensive history of getting lost, usually anytime my older sister and dad get together and say "lets go hiking"... Thank God for that crab fisherman... )

Basically we ended up going in circles. And before you judge us too harshly let me give you an idea of the size of this Maze. There were Stands set up that sat above the corn throughout the maze with people that were paid by the Maze owners to shout out directions for people who gave up and couldn't find the way out. There was even a SNACK STAND in the middle of the maze.

That's how big this bad boy was.

But our reputation, not to mention our pride, was on the line. There was no way we were gonna let our sissy girl cousins beat us. 

Eventually it got dark, like pitch black. My dad pulled out his cell phone and flipped it open so it would glow and yelled at us kids to follow the glow so we didn't get lost. People all around us of course thought dad was a guide and we ended up with a large crowd of crushed souls when they realized we were lost too and dad was just trying not to lose his kids.

Finally... that crushing moment happened. In the dead of night we heard our worst nightmares as the speakers around us crackled on and we heard the evil cackling laughter of my sister and the girl cousins come over them. "WHY ARE WE WAITING?!?!" They began singing this phrase in a sing song voice over and over.... it was humiliating.. 

In defeat we finally asked one of the Platforms where to go and then crossed the snack stand to the exit. The girls cheated, no doubt. 

~

Now, time to focus on a lesson from that humorous story. 

That maze was literally so big and we were so short sighted as to where we were going that there really were platforms put up for people to look over and shout directions. 

The same is true in life, often times we can become so blinded by what's happening here and now that we lose sight of long term goals, or even blinded of what others might be doing cause we're so focused on now. It's important that we have friends and people we can look up to and trust to look into our lives and shout out directions or warnings of where we're going or what we're doing.

I'm fortunate to have my mom (who begrudgingly I more and more have to come to and say "yeah you were right".) who is willing to look into what's going on in my life and give a clear cut piece of advice to me on a daily basis.

There are a lot of passages in Proverbs that talk about accepting wisdom and seeking counsel. Something that is mentioned so much surely must be important.

"The way of a fool is right in his own eyes, but a wise man listens to advice." Proverbs 12:15

"When there is no guidance, a people falls, but in an abundance of counselors there is safety." Proverbs 11:14

"Whoever trusts in his own mind is a fool, but he who walks in wisdom will be delivered." Proverbs 28:26

Make a point to take some advice and see another point of view on your situation this week. Hope this helps you guys.

God Bless, 

       Ryan