Here are three photographs taken from roughly the same place at the south end of Dalnabay and before one comes to the engine shed. I have noticed over the years that Cairngorm rarely looks the same twice. Its appearance changes from season to season, and from one type of weather to another. Lighting conditions can change from moment. Question: Does Cairngorm change with its appearance? Apart from a little erosion here and there, Cairngorm stays the same year in and year out. Even when it is shrouded in cloud and mist it remains the same. When we ask the question – does God change? The answer is more emphatically that he does not. The Bible says of God the Son “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever,” Hebrews:13:8. The same can also be said of the other members of the Godhead. But our perception of God changes as we go through spiritual seasons. Our emotions can cloud over in an instant, and suddenly our warm and sunny view of God changes to one that is cold and distant. We can even think that if we cannot see God, or feel if he is not there, then he cannot be there. Yet that is as stupid as saying that Cairngorm is not there because it is covered in cloud, rain or snow. We all have our ups and downs in life and it is all too easy to have the spiritual equivalent of Seasonal Affected Disorder Syndrome and spiritually hibernate. Whether the changes that occur in our perceptions come from natural or supernatural quarters, when the spiritual storms of life blow in we tend to blame God for them. In the longer term these seasons, in fact, when looking back be stages of our spiritual growth and maturity.

David G. Rose, 2012.