The path ahead

About an hour into my walk in Scotland's borders last Friday and this was the path ahead!

The walk had already been a little frustrating and now this. Looking back on it this morning and I was reminded of the path ahead in our everyday lives.

Does your path ever look like this?

On first sight, the path in the picture looked almost impossible. Thistles, shoulder height plants, nettles and thorny bushes and of course the trees on either side.

So what do you do when faced with such obstacles on your life path?

Well sometimes we give up immediately. At first sight of this path, that could have been my reaction but then I looked more closely. This is what we need to do on our life path too. We need to get closer, to study the options, to weight them up and then to make a decision.

Was there a clear alternative route for me? No.

Was there another way through this blockage? In some places yes. There was an opportunity to take a slightly different route in places but only for short stretches so it helped.

Was there anything I could use to help me get through? I did not have a machete which would have made a great difference and there were no broken branches lying around. I had my legs and arms which I used and I had a walking partner so as a team we could move through.

What or who do you have to help you?

What are the dangers you may face? For Janet who was following on it was branches springing back, nettles and thorns.

How do you cope with them?

At the end of the day our path became completely blocked by a building site which had eradicated the path and perhaps this blockage was an indication of what was to come. However, even having had to turn back, we were able to learn from the experience and we would never have experienced the colours and great views had we not pushed on.