Owls in Song
I walked out of my door at night to hear a symphony of creature sounds. The frogs were probably making the most noise, the crickets were in there somewhere, and some kind of bird exchanged a lilting cry with one of its kind across the landscape. But the most enchanting sound of all—for me at least—was the fluttering sound of one owl cooing or wooing or who-ing in rhythm, in a prescribed tone and sound-arrangement, until it would elicit the response of a nearby owl that spoke the same language. The constant owl caller issued a “whoo-whoo, whoo-whoo” with each “whoo” lasting a distinctive length of time and having a distinctive rhythm and pitch. The constant-calling owl issued his song at a rate of about one call every 30 seconds. And every few minutes another owl would answer with a higher voice and a slightly different arrangement: her sound was more like “who-who-who, wh-who, wh-who.” It seems that the interplay has an analogy in the way the Lord Jesus calls out to us constantly through His creation, and we respond only every now and then (when our hearts are softened).