What I most enjoy about staying where we are in Africa is being close to nature.
There are times where entire families of monkeys who climb along our fence right in front of our noses, while we have breakfast at our front yard, get a bit too close for comfort, and other times, grand surprises just leap out right at us. The first was having an entire circus of them camp at our front door and wreck auditory havoc along our roof pipes in a sorry percussionistic attempt.
This time, it was just another Sunday morning where we opened out front door to get out of our house when something, obviously startled by us, flew straight past us from the mango tree in front of our home and smacked headlong into the side wall of our home with a loud thud. The large bird collapsed onto the ground just two metres from us, momentarily stunned and lay there, its eyes meeting ours for a good five seconds.
It was the most beautiful owl I had ever seen in my life in the wild.
With a snow-white face, large cherry-sized eyes and almond-and-mahogany striped wings, it was a beauty.
A few months ago, at the Bird Park on my birthday, after feeling sorry for the owls I had seen in the small, darkened enclosures, I remember telling Cliff I thought it would be absolutely amazing to see an owl in the wild one day. But knowing how difficult it would be to spot one, I never thought much about it after, though I did secretly hope we might spot one during our time in Canada.
There, right in front of us, was this majestic creature.
As we shared this with some of our African friends, we realized that even they had never spotted an owl in all their lives in Africa.
Just as it swooped off, I was glad to be able to catch a glimpse of this beauty.
Sometimes, it is the little surprises of nature that remind us of the creativity, grace and majesty of God, our Creator.
What an honor, what a privilege.
“So God created… every winged bird according to its kind.
And God saw that it was good.
And God blessed them saying, ‘Be fruitful and multiply…’”
– Genesis 1:21-22