One Saturday a group of us gathered to make mandalas. “Mandala” (Sanskrit for “circle”) is a device used in many eastern religions.  It’s a circular pattern of symbols that can express the spiritual journey. Our mandalas were made of large circles of poster board. Our instructions were to decide on a picture for the center, find it in a collection of old magazines, and then to thumb through magazine tearing out any picture that struck us. These random pictures were glued around the central picture. When it was finished, we were to study it and then explain to the group what it meant to us.

It was a more revealing experience than I had anticipated. I’m very much a left-brained, rationalist type of person. Making these mandalas was a right-brained, intuitive process so it revealed things to me my rational mind usually avoided.

I initially looked for a picture of a face for the center. I was thinking a human face, but then came across a picture of a huge clock face. I knew at once that was the right picture. My whole life since childhood has been plagued by a lack of time. I never seem to have enough time for things even now that I’m retired. I have come to regard every moment as a gift from God to be treasured and used rightly.

Pick up a magazine like National Geographic sometime and see what picture strikes you. How does the it speak to you? After you’ve done that, thank God for this bit of self-discovery.

Read Exodus 3:1-6 and remember: God loves YOU unconditionally.

Wayne