The Ever Changing Face of Nature

Today as Hollie and I took our usual doggy walk through the woods I was struck by how much it had changed just lately - we had heavy snow at the end of last year and that weighed down many of the tree branches and made them vulnerable to the recent gales we've had. I found myself stepping on twigs, ducking under branches and hopping over fallen trunks. Combined with the arrival of the snow drops the woods looks rather different to how it did a few short weeks ago.

This got me reflecting on life - my life, everyone's life, and how nothing every stays the same. Our lives really do reflect nature and the ever turning Wheel of the Year - from Spring to Summer to Autumn to Winter and back around again. Each season has its benefits and its draw backs and each phase in our lives is the same - even the challenging ones. I do find it funny how we refer to the "dead of winter" like it's some dormant phase where nothing grows or lives, but that's really not true as I have seen so much life this Winter, it is simply a season of great change where some plants and animals slumber and others grow and thrive. The Winter in our own lives can be like this too - there needs to be quiet times where things may seem a little stagnant, but really these are the times to conserve our energy and plant the new seeds of our next adventure, ready for the coming Spring. If the winter is particularly harsh and we facing struggles, then we should remember that the Wheel is always turning and this time shall pass and Spring will be upon us again.

As if a sign from the Faeries themselves, as I headed home from my ponderings and my lovely walk, I came across a patch of Snowdrops growing around a dead and decaying tree trunk - the metaphor was perfect so I took a picture.

There is always life and always hope - even in the Winter x