Like an owl in desolate places ...

Morepork -photo by Chris Turner

Twelve  thousand miles from ruru – the ‘morepork’ whose call fades as dawn slips over the hills – we came across another little owl. We were walking along a secluded Norfolk path on a very windy morning and there he was, sitting right in the middle of the lane - fluffed up in the chilly air, bemused rather than wise. My husband scooped him up and carefully set him on a sheltered branch to regain his equilibrium. ‘Light as a feather’, he quipped, but I knew he was chuffed to hold such a treasure in his hands for a moment.

Unlike today when owls in the wild are valued and owls in various forms in jewellery, ceramics and art, enjoy a certain popular appeal, in Jesus’ time owls were considered ‘unclean’. When the psalmist referred to 'the owl in desolate places' he was expressing  desperate isolation, loneliness, separation from those who gave his life meaning. He felt a deep sense of being disconnected.

Spirituality is about connection – with ourselves, with others, with the world around us – but above all with the Loving Presence in and through all things. If you sometimes feel like a ‘little owl’, distant from what brings you life or if solitude brings fear and sadness,  turn to Jesus and invite him to meet you in your place of vulnerability. 

May he scoop you up and hold you in strong, kind hands until you are ready to ‘fly’ again.