Don’t Give A Hoot!

I started writing this column many years ago the primary focus on God’s Unconditional Love.  In every facet of each person’s life you can unearth some small need or minute deficit within their being that needs  love thrown into it.   Not one person is whole without God’s love.   Today I want to talk to you about the Barn Owl.   Trust me . . .I’ll tie this bird into God’s love.  Join me will you?

The Barn owl is gorgeous!  What a beautiful majestic bird and  a striking example of wildlife in our world.   However, did you know that the Barn Owl can’t hoot?    The Barn owl doesn’t hoot. . . he can only hiss or shriek.   Most naturalists refer to their call more like a scream.  Weird huh?

When I was young  outside my bedroom window almost every night as I quieted my mind to prepare to go to sleep, I would hear a lullaby of quiet gentle “hoo hoo hoo” hoots coming from our nearby owl.   Clearly it was not a Barn owl.   I would have had a lot of sleepless nights hearing what they do instead of hooting.    Imagine hearing screams from outside your bedroom window as a child.   I’m pretty sure you’d be sleeping with mommy and daddy instead!

Poor Barn owl . . . .he didn’t get a hoot.    Well no, that would be wrong.   It’s not poor barn owl just because he is different.  God made him that way.   And God gifted him with the physical abilities that he needed and that’s that.

In my youth, there were many things I couldn’t do as well as others.   And the talents that I had that others didn’t have didn’t really seem “cool” or relevant enough.   It would be difficult at times and frustrating; I remember it very well.   I also remember that healing and the feeling of completeness as I focused on God’s love.   It didn’t matter to God if I could catch a basketball or not.   He loved me anyway. In fact he loved me just the way he made me and there are not enough ways I can thank God for that much less for the way he sacrificed his own son for all of us.

We live in a world with multiple labels, various diagnosis for behavior or habit, adhd, add, ocd.   Maybe you don’t hoot?!  Not one of us is alike emotionally or physically.    God made us the way we are and for a purpose.   I submit you are equipped with a list of “I can’s” just as much as “I can’ts”.

Mr. Barn owl makes a noise all of his own.  He’s still an owl though.   We are still all children of God and no matter what –  he has given you your own voice.  Find your God-given voice and be heard!