A few weeks ago, we decided to go to the American West Heritage Center for a family home evening. I wanted to try their corn maze since last year Landon begged me to take him, but we never ended up going.
When we got there the kids enjoyed all of the activities they had going on. They had a giant slide, a hay jump, a pirate fort made from hay bales, a kids maze and a maze in the dark, but the one
they were most excited for was the corn maze.
As we were entering the maze, we took this picture of my boys in the pumpkin patch.
At the entrance of the maze, they handed us a map to use if we needed it. I decided that it would be fun to try to solve the maze on our own. About 5 minutes into the maze, as we got further away from the lights and it began to get darker, my boys realized that there was no turning back and I could tell that they were a little afraid. I told them it was ok and that we would make our way through the maze sooner or later. We wandered for about 45 minutes getting more and more lost before our son Landon suggested that we pull out the map. Realizing that we could be in the maze for hours before finding the exit, Terry and I decided to look at the map.
This is what the map looked like. There were only curves and turns with no other landmarks to tell you where in the maze you were.
I began to realize at this point in the maze, what an amazing spiritual lesson I could teach to my children. I began to explain to them that this maze is a lot like life, we are placed in this life with tools to help guide us (just like the map could help guide us) I explained that Heavenly Father has given us the scriptures, the prophet our parents, leaders and many other tools to stay on the path, but sometimes we think that we can do it all alone without help. Sometimes we become lost like we were at that point, and sometimes it is not easy to get back onto the right path.
I explained that when we are not following Heavenly Father, like the maze, we feel alone, scared and in the dark. At this point in the maze, all we could do was wander around looking for some similarity to the map - the way the maze branched off or curved. While we were wandering a young teenage couple persuaded us that they had been marking the map with a pen the whole way, and that they knew how to get out. So we followed them for probably 10 minutes, before we realized that they were just as lost as we were, and we decided to go our own way. (Again another teaching opportunity.) I explained to my kids that Satan tries really hard to persuade us to follow the world and to lead us astray. Sometimes he makes bad things look good and enticing, we need to be strong and only follow the path that leads us back to Heavenly Father.
We wandered for another five minutes and still could not make heads or tales as to where we were. At this point, my son Landon suggested that we say a prayer. He said the prayer and after we turned a few corners we looked a the map again. We were completely surprised to find that we were able to determine with 80% surety that we were in the right lower corner of the book. We took out a pen and began to mark our path as we went, comparing the curves and turns. After about 10 more minutes we were 95% sure that we were following the correct path. I was very grateful that my son had gone to his Heavenly Father for help and had found the guidance that we needed. I told him that I hoped that he would stay close to his Heavenly Father all of his life and always go to him when he needs help. ( As a mother I was very proud of Landon- It is comforting to know what faith he has in God.)
We continued down the path, as we reached the finish line and walked out of the maze as a family, I caught a small glimpse of how sweet it will be one day if we are all at the eternal finish line together. It felt good to know that each person in our family had played some role in getting us to the finish boosting the others when they needed it, and that we never gave up- we kept on trying no matter how hard it seemed.
I am very grateful for this experience, even Terry and I took valuable lessons away from it. as As an adult, I still get lost sometimes and have to pull myself back onto the right path. I have to remember not to quit and to keep trying( Especially when it is tough.)
I hope that I will be able to make it to the finishing line with my family someday. To me that would be the most wonderful feeling of all!!!
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