When the lake is bare, when quiet surrounds, and there is not one ripple on this deep expanse, Nature breathes. Perhaps there may be a descending flock of geese, perhaps a sudden splash of trout tail, or a thirsty doe and her fawn. But there is no appearance at the water’s edge, and for now, none to move its striking beauty.

When it is myself who is laid bare, there is no beauty in my surrounding. There is no...