You thrill me, Lord, with all you have done for me!
….I sing for joy because of what you have done. Psalm 92:4 NLT

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This morning I saw something that I have never seen…in the wild at least! At least, I’m pretty sure it’s what I saw. On my pre-dawn journey to pick up my middle school and high school kids, a light-colored form flew not too far away in front of my bus. It wasn’t really big, but big enough to catch my attention.

It flew so that would make it a bird.

It was in the dark of night so obviously, it must be nocturnal. (Duh!)

So, the only nocturnal birds that I know of are owls! I’ve heard them on occasion but have only seen one that had died when hit by a car some years ago. (It was a little Northern Saw-whet Owl. They are only 7 to 8 inches in length with a wingspan of 16 to 19 inches.) But the owl I saw was much bigger.

Due to the light color of its underbelly, I’m pretty sure what I saw was a Barn Owl.

They are 14 to 20 inches tall with a wingspan of 40 to 45 inches – so not too big and not too small. There are several interesting facts about Barn Owls.

  • They are considered medium-sized raptors, nocturnal birds of prey like other owls. Raptors have strong grasping talons for killing prey, and a hooked upper beak for tearing meat.
  • They can eat more than their own weight of mice and rats in one evening.
  • They often swallow their food whole – bits of fur and bone are then regurgitated (coughed up) as an owl pellet.
  • They never hoot, they screech.
  • They have very long legs, toes, and talons to help them to catch prey hidden under long grass.
  • Their large eyes are very sensitive – they can quickly spot a mouse moving in a very gloomy barn.

But the one fact that I want to hone in on is that their ear openings are at slightly different levels on the head and set at different angles. They are covered by a flexible ruff made up of short, dense feathers, which frame the face, turning it into a dish-like amplifier for sound.

Don’t you think that would be something worth emulating? In far too many instances our mouths are more active than our ears. You would think with two ears and only one mouth that we would listen twice as much as speak, but unfortunately, that is rarely the case.

What if in our interactions with others we focused less on speaking and more on listening? I often like to interject what and who I know into conversations but if I concentrated on using my whole face to listen – really listen – to them, what would I “hear”? Of course, our ears hear. But our eyes should watch for facial expressions and posture that can communicate a great deal about a person. If we truly strove to be intentional in our interactions, what all could we pick up on? Too often we brush past obvious audible and visible signs of someone’s need.

Lord Jesus, may we take the words of James 1:19 to heart,

Understand this, my beloved brothers and sisters. Let everyone be quick to hear [be a careful, thoughtful listener], slow to speak [a speaker of carefully chosen words and], slow to anger [patient, reflective, forgiving]… AMP

Jan 5th, 2022, Wed, 8:28 pm