Dearest Readers,
It feels strange to be sending you this letter after reading today’s terrifying headlines. I wrote the post a few days ago, before the attacks on Iran. Hopefully, what I’m writing about still has meaning despite the (ongoing) horrific events unfolding before us.
Last month, I wrote about donkeys and this month I’m going to write about owls.
A couple of weeks ago, a woman called me to inquire about spiritual direction. During our conversation, she told me her spirituality was deeply connected to nature. After she had shared a bit about what that meant for her, I told her that my spirituality, too, was connected to nature. The moment those words left my mouth, an owl flew across the yard.
Let me repeat that. At the precise moment I spoke the words, “My spirituality is connected to nature”, a large, grey owl, never before seen on our property, swooped directly across my line of vision.
“Oh my god!” I said (for what else does one say?). The vision of this majestic bird had filled me with wonder and awe.
I told the woman what had happened and we laughed at the seeming coincidence. Then the owl flew back the other way, showing me its expansive, patterned wings and soft, flat face. More awe and wonder.
Animal encounters like this one feel like spiritual events. Cosmic communion. They tell me there is something extraordinary happening behind the scenes. I like to call this Impeccable Timing.
Impeccable Timing is not really explainable. It happens when things converge in a meaningful or mystical way. Not everything that happens is Impeccable Timing—or maybe it is—but a man I met who was dive-bombed by an owl and had his scalp ripped open by the bird’s talons would probably say Not Impeccable Timing.
For me, that owl flying past my window, in that moment, as if my very words had breathed it into being, was Impeccable Timing. And IT has been keeping me going.
May we all continue to be awed by the wonder that can happen in our world.
With love and IT blessings,
Celia
