....you know I need Someone...

A couple of years ago, I had to do this 'thing' where I was blindfolded and sent into a maze that I had to find my way out of...

That's right. Blindfolded.

Maze.

Finding my way out of it.

Now....I felt pretty sure of myself going in there. As you may remember, I like mysteries. And puzzles. And I thought that this would be nothing more than a puzzle or mystery that I needed to solve.

The maze was made out of lengths of rope. You could hold onto the rope...which I did. But I found myself getting confused after a while. It(the maze) was outside...and there was a small tree in the middle. I kept going to that tree to calm down. Because I knew that if I started to get anxious or panicky...it would take me twice as long to find my way out.

There were others in the maze with me. And while we weren't allowed to talk to one another, we could talk to the few who were not in the maze.

All of the sudden, someone got out. There was cheering. You felt the relief in the air.

I felt two things:

1) I was glad to know that there was a way out.

2) I was totally ticked off about not being the first one out. Of not being able to figure out a simple maze!

So...I stubbornly set my jaw and went back to the task of finding a way out.

After that...you'd hear more folks say happily, "I'm out!"

I was still in the maze. Still holding onto the rope. Still calming down by the tree. But still stuck inside.

I was becoming more and more disappointed.

I heard someone ask me if I needed anything.

"No," I said, trying to sound confident. "I'm fine."

What? Like a hint or a clue? I was smart enough to figure out this stupid maze! Didn't they know that? And I'm NOT a cheater at games! I didn't want a hint, thank you very much!!

I kept going.

I wasn't passing by anyone, or bumping into them anymore. They were all out of the maze.

I felt totally alone and miserable.

So...I talked to myself, "You can do this!"

I'm not sure I believed it.

I heard someone ask again, "C., how are you doing?"

I felt somewhat ashamed. I felt defeated.

"I need help." I said.

Suddenly, there was someone's hand in mine...and within moments I found myself out of the maze.

"That's all you needed to do to get out." I was told. "You only needed to ask for help."

Wow.

So often I think I can do it all myself, you know?! There's that idea that I need to have all the answers...to fix things.

And I don't.

And you don't.

We need to be able to ask for help sometimes. If we find ourselves in that maze...we could spend a lot of our time going in circles...and not fixing anything.

You don't have to be the strongest. You don't have to be in charge of the universe.

Let Someone else do His job there, okay?

My Friends, it's okay to ask for help.