If you can’t tell already, I’m a fan of birds. And John Stott wrote a devotional I wish I’d written called The Birds Our Teachers. He subtitled it Essays in Orni-theology. :) Just as Jesus often used agricultural parables to make a point, Stott uses stories from the birding world to illustrate Biblical principles.

Our family is fortunate to live in an older neighborhood that has managed to retain many large trees and a beautiful natural park in spite of active home development – expansions and teardowns – in the area. For years after we moved here, we could hear, but not see, owls in the woods, calling back and forth as day faded into night. More recently, we’ve learned to spot them. It seems to be an acquired skill and often takes patience.

Chapter Three of Stott’s book discusses owls, noting they can rotate their heads at least 180 degrees (and some species even farther!) like the Pilgrim’s Progress character Mr. Facing-Bothways who sits on a fence. Stott challenges Christians to be more owl-like, “because all the time we should be looking back to the past with gratitude and on to the future with expectation.” The Bible itself is structured as past, present and future. The book of Revelation contains John’s reflections of what he had seen, a present message to churches, and descriptions of future events. Many verses urge us to remember and to hope. And Jesus is described this way:

“I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, “who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.” Rev. 1:8

Let’s take an orni-theological minute right now and consider three things:

Something in your past for which you are thankful
A present challenge to give to the Lord in prayer
The hope we have for the future when Christ will come again

Let owls remind us to be people who look back with gratitude and forward with hope.