A month ago today, an injured barred owl was found alongside a road in North Texas.
Head trauma. Retinal injury. Weakness. Uncertain survival.
Many people would have looked at that owl and quietly thought:
“Nature will take its course.”
And perhaps that is true.
Nature does take its course.
BUT, so does compassion.
So does intelligence.
So does human intervention born from love, skill, and responsibility.
A young woman noticed the owl at 7 am on her way to work and cared enough to stop. My grandson brought the owl to me. I rushed it to the Blackland Prairie Raptor Center where trained rehabbers immediately stepped in with fluids, medications, nourishment, observation, and painstaking, knowledgeable care.
Day by day, that owl slowly improved.
At first, survival itself was uncertain.
Then came standing.
Then eating.
Then pellets.
Then feisty behavior.
Then flight.
And finally… perched high again!
Watching this unfold has touched me more deeply than I can express because, in many ways, I see myself in that owl.
As many of you know, I have been battling MAC disease and COPD. There have been moments when I could have quietly accepted the idea that my body was simply “taking its natural course.”
After all, every human being alive today will eventually die. That is part of life on earth. No amount of denial changes that reality. It’s not scary. It’s not bad. It just IS.
But here is what I believe with all my heart:
God did not give human beings extraordinary minds, curiosity, creativity, medicine, science, perseverance, and compassion merely to stand back passively while suffering unfolds.
God gave us brains to use them.
To heal.
To improve.
To restore.
To care for creation.
To extend quality of life.
To reduce suffering.
To help one another rise again.
The Blackland Prairie Raptor Center is doing exactly that for this owl.
And I made a similar decision to do the same for myself.
I could surrender to fear.
I could accept limitation as the final word.
Or…
I can move heaven and earth to heal, strengthen, adapt, learn, and continue living a meaningful and productive life.
As Mr. Spock famously said:
“Live long and prosper.”
I smile every time I think about that phrase now because beneath the science fiction was a profoundly human truth:
Life itself is a gift worth stewarding well.
Not forever.
Not perfectly.
But purposefully.
None of us escapes mortality.
The owl will someday die.
I will someday die.
You will someday die.
That is not the tragedy.
The tragedy would be refusing to fully LIVE while we are here.
The tragedy would be surrendering our curiosity, courage, purpose, joy, contribution, faith, relationships, wonder, and determination long before our final breath ever arrives.
Watching this owl fight its way back toward the sky has reminded me of something essential:
Healing is not always about denying reality.
Sometimes healing is about honoring life enough to fight for it anyway.
Some days survival is enough.
Some days standing is enough.
Some days simply perching a little higher than before is enough.
And occasionally…
when God, grace, and effort meet together…
you fly again.
