This photograph of the Cairngorms was last Wednesday. I had a foot of snow outside my backdoor that morning and it seemed a good opportunity to take pictures of snowscapes. The idea was to take pictures of pristine snow rather than ones covered in footprints. When I left the house there was blue sky but it clouded over before I found a suitable place to take a panoramic shot. In order to take this shot I had to leave the main path It had to mean walking on (the Speyside Way) onto a smaller path that runs closer to the fence of the golf course. But nobody had gone along this path since the snow had fallen so I had to wade through pristine snow to reach a spot where there was a sufficiently wide gap in the trees. The problem was that the place I expected to find this gap seemed a lot further along the path than I thought. It became increasing difficult to judge where the path actually was as well. I found that in places the snow had filled hollows that were about 2 feet deep. I began to tire with the effort. Fortunately I arrived at a suitable place and managed to set up my tripod and take this picture, not to mention a few failures. I returned to the main path and continued to look for another place I was familiar with. I returned home eventually and began to realise how effort it had taken out of me when I decided to take a short cut that I found that had not been used since the snow came and had been subject to drifting snow making more hard going. I had to go out again to the shops but found it increasingly difficult by the time I returned home.
The snow is not so deep now but walking this afternoon I realised how much easier it is when one is walking where other people have trodden a path. I thought of Paul who pioneered many churches during his missionary journeys and had to overcome many difficulties. He even was looking for new challenges after his trip to Jerusalem and spoke of going on to Spain in his letter to the Romans. But compared to his Saviour that was nothing He pioneered a lonely trail that led to the cross. He lived a perfect life, set us a perfect example to follow. We rarely appreciate how many of the things that Christ achieved were trailblazing.
David Rose 2015.