Thought for the Week

WHEN I was a child my dad delighted in telling me about nature.

We spent my childhood summers in Millport and I loved it.

There was total freedom to explore that lovely wee island, climb the hills, cycle round the island, walk the beaches and chase the waves.

Every morning before breakfast my folks and I walked along past Keppel Pier to the Wishing Well where we tossed coins into that accepting water and made a wish.

Our golden Cocker Spaniel, Blaze, sniffed every blade of grass and chased every rabbit that passed his nose.

He never did catch one, though I suspected in his gentleness, he actually didn’t want to harm anything in this perfect world.

We used to guddle in rock pools and I was enchanted when a wonderful German professor of marine biology came to stay on the island.

I devoured the information he shared with me and he never tired of my questions.

There was a world of wonder beneath every rock and I still think of the words of George Macleod: ‘Turn but a stone and an angel moves.’

We peeked in bushes quietly and whispered of the beauty of bird eggs.

At night, stars and planets danced in dark skies and occasionally a shooting star would streak across the heavens, much to my excitement.

From the micro to the macro, we live in a world of wonder.

Many angels have enchanted me since these early days and I have been blessed to share their company on occasion.

But still I remember the wise words of my dad when he saw the wonder in my eyes and told me wisely: ‘Look, learn and leave.’