Birch sparkle

Bright sun sparkling on the reeds, as the shadow line from the sun setting behind the crag advances across the lochan.  It was a perfect autumn afternoon with a shimmer of dragonflies playing above the reeds – after a very stormy week, with fresh snow visible on the hills.

“Beginnings often frighten us because they seem like lonely voyages into the unknown.  Yet, in truth, no beginning is empty or isolated.  We seem to think that beginning is a setting out from a lonely point along some line of direction into the unknown.  This is not the case.  Shelter and energy come alive when a beginning is embraced.  Goethe says that once the commitment is made, destiny conspires with us to support and realise it.  We are never as alone in our beginnings as it might seem at the time.  A beginning is ultimately an invitation to open towards the gifts and growth that are stored up for us.”