*9 December 2021*
I've just been out for an early morning run in the virgin snow as the darkness was giving way to light.
For much of my run, there were no footsteps to follow in the snow, I was breaking new ground for this day. Sometimes my journey intersected with that of others who had been out before me. So I could draw on their experience to chart my course, while also relying on my own memory of the way, and the visible signposts along the path.
There were often the little playful footsteps of deer, and a long stretch of the path where a fox had been before me. Sometimes there was an animal highway crossing at right angles across my path - they obviously had a different destination in mind.
Part of my motivation for this run was to maintain or increase my fitness. But I know too that each step, each breath, is ultimately a gift.
My route was in fact a circle, which reminded me of the TS Eliot quote:
And the end of all our exploring
Will be to arrive where we started
And know the place for the first time.
I saw some of this as a metaphor for our walk of change as IofC, but make of that what you will.