Turn toward the light

I read a snip somewhere recently that caused me to think: "When you turn toward the light, the shadow falls behind you." In this photo, taken on a solitary hike this past Tuesday, I was facing away from the light. And when I looked at the shadow on the ground, I thought of that quote. I thought about how when we are down we talk about walking in shadow and how it literally is a "turning away from the light." The light of our own being, the light of God and so on. Hmmm. Just one of the many things that occur to me when I am hiking.

To reassure all of those wonderful friends who encouraged me to keep moving and keep hiking while I wait for the test results, yes, I am hiking more than ever. I feel best when I am hiking actually. I wonder how I can have anything wrong with me when I can hike so far and so strongly :) And if there is something "wrong" it surely is a way that I can put things to rights. I am not losing any weight from it, in fact this week I have gained two pounds. But that's not why I hike anymore anyway. I hike because I love it.

On the same hike where I took the photo above, I also snapped the vista that was in front of me:


and then this tiny beautiful miracle of butterflies "nesting" on a wildflower:


Seeing the big picture and the small, that's another one of those blessings that I have gained through hiking. Sometimes my mind is far away in the past or the future, puzzling something out. But then I see something and I am back in the present, glorying in the wonder of the world and remembering to be grateful for the now.