Dear G, I know you may be frustrated that I haven’t tried to connect with L for spiritual direction or tried to reach out for community earlier than now. You’ve watched me struggle for a year, and resist finding a spiritual connection. But there have been times that I’ve tried; it’s just that none of those places were the right place or time. I’d like to think that this past year isn’t time wasted. I’d like to think that deep in my soul, through the struggle and pain, a seed has been growing and waiting for the right time to emerge, to push it’s way through the earth. And now is that time. Although the time of year is autumn, it is early springtime in my soul. I feel like just in the last two days I have come out of the dark, forested part of the valley where it’s been hard to find the path, to a place that, although still dark, I can see on the horizon that the sun is about to rise, a thin but brilliant shimmer on the edge of a still dark landscape.