Turning Sandy Beaches and Hooting Owls into a Lesson on Loyalty

My mind was a thousand miles away from home as I lay comfortably in my bed dreaming of pleasant things when I was suddenly awoken by some buzzing sound that seemed to be moving my pillow. It took me a moment to gather my bearing and realize that I was no longer on a sandy beach, but rather that I was freezing in my northern American bed as my phone vibrated away by my covers. It all started to come back to me as I remembered that I was trying to take a short cat nap before my dear friend called me that night. There was a two hour time zone difference between us and he was only available to talk that day after a time when I was normally asleep. So, on this particular night when I was feeling so sleepy, I decided to go to bed early and just let the phone awake me when he called. It had been several days since we had time to really talk and I was quite eager to catch up on things. So, I had no second thoughts about re-arranging my sleeping schedule (just this once) so that we could talk that evening. Our conversation turned out to be a long one that night and I found myself hanging up a little after midnight. My mind was racing after we ended our conversation for we had talked about a good many things and I did not quite know what to think about it all. However, the clock ticked on and I knew that I needed to get my rest. So, I settled back into my bed and tried to drift off to sleep.

My half awake and ever racing thoughts were soon interrupted by a faint “hoOhoO whohoo! whoOo, who, hoo, hohoOo whoowhoOoO”. I had to smile at the sound of this old hoot owl who was somewhere outside my window just hooting away. For some reason its small voice was very calming to me. However, it was not long before this medium pitched hoot was answered by a much deeper toned hoot from across the road. The two talked and hooted back and forth, back and forth till the high pitched one finally flew closer in, landing on the tree right out side my window. The deeper one returned the gesture and few to a closer tree as well. Now their conversations were much louder and were heard all to well by my ears who, (by now), would much rather be hearing a whole lot of nothing rather than a whole lot of something! The two of them echoed each other back, and forth back and forth … back … and forth … back … and forth for hours on end! I turned my floor fan on, cranked up my good night Mozart music, and buried my head under a pillow but it was all to no avail for I could still hear them. The clock ticked away, and, I must confess that my temper was starting to rise up with-in me for I was in great need of sleep and saw no reason to be kept awake by two overly vocal opera singing hoot owls! One’o’clock, two’o’clock’, two-thirty . . . I was still wide awake. But, by now I had put my thoughts to good use as I tried to name off all the good qualities of owls. For some reason, when I am having a good deal of bad thoughts towards someone, or something, I have found an easy way (for me anyway) to turn all of my sinful negativity into positive Christ honoring thoughts just by naming off all of the good things about that person or about that thing. Thus, on went the search to find all of the good traits of owls.

Being a girl who greatly enjoyed a nice flock of poultry when I was in my younger years, it was rather hard to think of an owl’s good traits because all I could think about is how bad they are for my farm! All that they have ever done was steal our baby chicks and carry off our young hens. However, the more I thought about this, the more I realized that I could not really blame them for this because they were just providing for their family. And, as it just so happened, we had a good source and plentiful source of food for them. I’m sure that the Beatty family farm was sort of like a McDonalds or something to them! I thought about how sacrificial and serving owls are when they are sitting on their eggs for they lay them in the cold months, and sit on them all through-out the winter.

My mind drifted back to a time when I came upon an owls nest in the dead of winter while I was out for an early morning bareback horse ride. This early nesting was an unusual sight in the frozen woods that I was riding through for it was a full two months before other birds would do the same - and for a good reason to! The cold days and colder nights made the female owl a prisoner of her nest. If she left the nest to find food for herself, she would run the risk of her eggs freezing. So, she went without much food during the crucial incubation period.

My oh my, how loyal these owls are! After four weeks of keeping the eggs warm, three cream-colored, downy owlets hatched. Now the reason for the early nesting became apparent for their young appetites were enormous. The task of feeding would be impossible were it not for the mother’s early nesting. This gave her the advantage of being able to spot a passing meal on the floor of the woods. Leaves had not yet grown on the trees, and the lingering snow provided a sharp contrast to the rodents for which the parents searched.
In three months the owlets would grow from three inches to over two feet! Their tremendous and rapid growth makes it necessary for the parents to secure enormous quantities of food. And it is for this reason that the parent bird adjusts its schedule and remains stationary during the cold months of winter, depriving itself of food so that it can better meet the need of its rapidly growing young.

Thinking over these things caused me to pause, and question myself. Am I loyal? One thing that the owl taught me is that loyalty can be displayed in many ways. One meaning and one way to display loyalty would be adjusting my schedule to meet the needs of those I am serving. Do I do that? … Do you? Do you patiently, and willingly, adjust your schedule to meet the needs of those who you are called to serve? Or, my dear reader, are you unfaithful? Being unwilling to be committed to our Lord and unfaithful to what He has called us to serve in, and, unfaithful to who he has called us to serve. In all things we should be loyal, using difficult times to demonstrate our commitment to God, and to those whom He has called us to serve.

“Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me. I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.
If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned. If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you. Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be my disciples. As the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you: continue ye in my love. If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father's commandments, and abide in his love. These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full. This is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you. Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you.
Henceforth I call you not servants; for the servant knoweth not what his lord doeth: but I have called you friends; for all things that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you.
Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain: that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my name, he may give it you. These things I command you, that ye love one another. If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before it hated you. If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you. Remember the word that I said unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord. If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you; if they have kept my saying, they will keep yours also.”

- John 15:4-20