A Moment in Time

The sun was coming up and a new day was dawning. Soon it would be time to make a move. The time for thinking was over, the time for acting was now. I had come for just this moment and I knew this was the place where it was to happen. The leafless tree silhouetted against the lightening sky marked the spot and the rising sun marked the time. I knew it was now or never, there would never be another chance. I had to move forward and I had to start the process.

I was frozen to the spot

I gathered my thoughts and reviewed the series of steps that would open the door to a new beginning for me. As the sun's light and intensity grew with the advancing dawn I felt its energy and power and knew this was the moment to make my move. If I failed to opt for renewal I would fall back into darkness and despair and it would all come to an end for me. If I failed to go forward into renewal, I would not be able to go back into the shadows of the half-life that had been mine till now. The failure would destroy me and I would be left with nothing, I would become nothing.

I stood there, and looked around me, surveying what I was leaving behind, which gave me even greater resolve to push ahead. I turned back to what lay before me and seemed to beckon me. I was sure that the place was pinpointed by the hibernating tree, that the time was marked by the sun's position on the horizon, and I felt a restless energy coursing through my body. This was it. There was no time to lose, the moment had come, the window of opportunity was a very narrow one and delay would be fatal. I took a deep breath, stiffened myself for what was to come, focused on the tree in the near distance, and stepped forward... and that’s when it all started to happen for me.

That was a long time ago now, and now as you read this, I may already be beyond this world.

Awestruck

There are some sights which are so beautiful, so wondrous, that they leave you staring at them open-mouthed. That's the effect the picture below has on me. This pure white wilderness, stretching as far as the eye can see, seemingly untouched by man, is a scene of absolute peace and calm. You can almost feel yourself breathing in the exhilaratingly cold fresh air deep into your lungs. The scene has a reassuringly permanent and unchanging quality about it. How long it will be before the hand of man brings an end to its changeless permanence is anyone's guess but that will be a sad day.

I feel a similar but different effect when I look at this second photo. The similarity is in the clean fresh purity of the scene, the difference is the movement taking place here. A powerful churning sea flows between the ice. You can almost sense the force of the body of water pounding against the mass of the ice floes. There is beauty here as in the previous image but there is also motion, force, energy. This scene does not have the reassuring permanence of the other one. There is no calm here. It is just a matter of time before the ice is broken up, worn down, and swallowed by the water.

Two powerfully striking scenes, both awesome in their own way. The first is a vast open landscape that transmits an air of permanence and total tranquillity. The second, equally awesome, is a depiction of the powerful forces of Nature, the foaming sea tirelessly pounding the ice that we know will eventually yield to the surging waters. In both instances we are awestruck by the beauty and energy of the natural world, a world which we are now all too aware is under threat from man's deleterious activities from one end of the planet to the other.