Once upon a time there lived a wise old owl, who lived very high up in a special tree. He spent much of the day sleeping, but as the sun began to set, he began to wake up, all excited about what the coming night might bring him.

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“I know, I know,” exclaimed the owl. “If I am as wise as everyone says, why do I wake up when everyone else is going to sleep and go to sleep when everyone else is waking up? I know that sounds rather foolish and not at all wise, but that’s because you don’t understand what happens at night, because you are all asleep.

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Let me tell you about my life. When I was born, I was found by a passer-by, alone, abandoned, hurt and dying. I was frail, vulnerable and exposed to all the elements. This wonderful stranger cradled me in her arms, brought me into her home and into the love and warmth that she lived within.

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At first, I was very scared, because I didn’t know what to expect. However, gradually as the days and weeks passed, I found great love, hope and acceptance in this place. It felt safe and secure and I was very happy there.

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However, eventually the day came when I was told that it was time to return to my original environment where I naturally belonged. Whilst I was greatly loved and treasured, it would be selfish to keep me confined in a world that was not naturally my habitat. But how to return me, that was the dilemma? There was much discussion with experts and a plan was hatched to gradually reintroduce me to the wild, a little at a time.

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The night arrived when I was due to be released for a few short hours and it was within an area that few predators were known to exist. It was as safe as it could be. I was left alone in a totally alien environment and what was worse, I was in the dark. How could they do this to me, I cried. How could they leave me alone and abandoned in a strange place with no friends and to top it all, it was pitch black? I was not happy I can tell you, because I was used to light, comfort, warmth, love and acceptance. Here I had none of those things. I was cold, damp, hungry and alone.

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I sat on the branch I was placed upon and I tried to look around. Much to my surprise, I discovered that I had rather remarkable eye sight in the darkness and could see things I never thought possible. In some ways that was good, because at least I could make things out. However, in other ways it was bad, because I could see all the horrible things that might threaten me and they made me scared.

I survived my first night alone and was very pleased to see the one who had loved and cared for me take me back home to where I felt safe. However, I was told that this return was only temporary, for the next night I would again be taken back to the same spot, but this time I would be left alone for 2 or 3 days.

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Oh no, I thought, that means I have to again watch out for all those horrible things that come out at night and which might threaten me. Yet it didn’t matter how much of a fuss I made, I couldn’t change their minds and was again left alone in the wild.

During that first night I was terrified. I was alone, unprotected and I didn’t know how I would survive. However, I did, and slowly over the coming weeks and months I grew accustomed to my new environment and it eventually became my home. I made new friends and learnt to fend for myself and cope with whatever came my way. I was amazed at what I could eventually do and achieve. What had once seemed so hostile and alien now seemed normal and acceptable. Of course, I missed the comfort, provision and safety of that first environment, but I realised looking back, that I had not been created to remain there but to go where I was always meant to live.

As the years rolled by, I learnt many things. Most of what I discovered about the world was from what I witnessed during the darkest hours of the night. As the sun set, some creatures felt safe to come out and explore. They felt confident, for they believed that they could not be seen, and therefore whatever they got up to was only visible to themselves and whoever they met during their night prowls.

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However, they were mistaken, for I witnessed all that happened under the cover of night as I had been gifted with incredible night sight. I learnt a lot about my fellow night companions. Some loved the night for they could be fearless. They could go wherever they wished with no threat from humans, their arch enemy. They could prowl and stalk prey and be top dog in the pecking order. They determined the night time rules and went about establishing borders and boundaries and claiming land that was theirs during the night, even if not during the day. They became king of their areas and all below them had to accept what they said, for they knew how to threaten and terrorise all those who attempted to go their own way.

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Then there were others who came out at night because they were afraid of the sun. They were afraid of its warmth and its light, a light with an ability to open up the very darkest of places. They were also afraid of beauty, for it reflected something which they knew not and which they felt uncomfortable around.

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In the darkness, everything lacks colour and therefore everything looks the same and no thing is made to feel different. Everything is but a dim shade of what exists during the day light hours.

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There is no wish to wake those who sleep, for those who live in the day are different and cannot understand those who exist in darkness. They live in separate worlds which co exist side by side with each other.”

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Now, the owl knew that he had been made to live and move in the dark hours, but what he couldn’t understand, was why? During his time of recuperation, he had seen much of the daylight hours and he had liked what he saw. Everything was so clear in the light and could be identified, explored and examined. At night, so much was hidden, distorted or unclear. Yet he knew that he had been created to live and exist and achieve all asked of him during the night hours.

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One night, the owl was amazed to see a butterfly fly past him and land near him. “What are you doing out so late?” he enquired of her.

“I just wanted to see what happens at night when the sun sets,” the butterfly replied. “Tonight, I decided that I wanted an adventure and to stay up late past my bedtime and explore all the same places I usually visit during the daylight hours.”

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“What do you think of the night?” enquired the owl. “Is it all you expected it to be or has it surprised or shocked you in any way?”

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The butterfly held her tongue for a long time, for she hated the thought of upsetting this kind old owl. How could she put it nicely that she was disappointed by the darkness, without offending him? The owl guessed that she was struggling and so shared with her how he used to live in the daylight, but now lived in darkness and how hard he had first found the bleakness and the lack of colour in the night.

At that, the butterfly began to open up and told the owl of the time when she had been a caterpillar and had enjoyed the world but had then faced a long period of darkness, which resulted in her becoming a new creation, a butterfly.

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She explained that during those dark weeks and months of being contained and enclosed in a dark world, she had hungered and longed for the ability to again see the sun and feel the warmth of its rays on her being. However, she had also known, that in order for her to become all that she might be, a beautiful butterfly, it was both necessary and essential that she spend this time in darkness, as her body transformed from being one creature into another. If she had simply continued to live in the light and walk everywhere, she would have forever remained a caterpillar, earth bound and unable to fly.

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That would have been nice in many ways, for she was comfortable and content with her life. However, she knew that there would always be a restlessness within her, urging her to keep searching for who she was created to be. She hated leaving the beauty of the day and all the joys surrounding her, but she also knew that if she did not, she would never discover her true self.

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She watched as her friends disappeared one by one, accepting their time of darkness and then reappearing forever changed. She used to watch them fly and be captivated and enthralled by the speed and agility of their movements in the air. And oh, their magnificent colours, grace and beauty! She had seen that change in others and she knew theoretically that she too could look that beautiful and fly with that grace. However, she was also afraid of changing and of becoming different to what she had always been and of discovering that although the new life might look great, it might be worse than her old life.

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Eventually, the day came when her caterpillar body could no longer exist as it was. Everything within her knew that now was the time for the transformation to occur. If she passed up this opportunity to evolve into what she was always created to be, she knew that she would regret it for the rest of her life. For she would always feel cheated of a part of herself that was waiting and willing to be born but which she had denied existence to. She knew that it meant entering into a small new world for a while, one that would hold and contain her; one where she could no longer move as she once had and one in which she was not yet transformed.

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Most of all, it would be a dark place and one where the caterpillar would just be on her own. No one to talk to, no one to share with, just her and the one who contained and held her there. She would be safe, but she would not be able to run, escape or hide. She would simply have to trust and surrender her very future and her transformation into the hands of her maker.

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The day came when she said goodbye to the world she knew and loved and entered into the darkness where she would be alone. “Here I am,” she cried out. “Please can you help me become what I was always created to be? I trust you to take me from an ugly squiggly caterpillar to becoming a beautiful being of flight and grace.” She was wrapped and enfolded and entered into a place of great peace and rest. During this time, she was given visions of how she would look and where she might fly and travel.

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Slowly but surely, the days and weeks passed by and from within her cocoon she began to change, evolve and grow, all the time altering and developing. To the outside world there was no change, for they saw nothing of the transformation occurring in the hidden, quiet, dark place. However, soon they would see.

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Eventually the day arrived when it was time for the new creation to emerge from the hidden place where she had been given the time and space to be transformed. The miracle of new life had been created and she was now able to break free and forever leave behind this place.

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How glorious she felt when she first opened her wings and felt the warmth of the sun on them bringing new life into her body. But could she trust herself to fly and to leave behind the safety of all she had ever known? Of course she could, for now she was made for flight and there would have been no point going through that period of transformation, if she was simply going to remain doing what she had always done before as a caterpillar.

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So, she flew, and as she did so she was lifted higher and higher and reached new places and discovered things she had no idea even existed. She gained new perspective with every new place visited and she looked back on her old life as a caterpillar and wondered how she could have ever questioned whether this was what she wanted from life.

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“That sounds wonderful,” said the owl. “But tell me, is this darkness here the same as the darkness you knew before?”

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“Oh no,” she replied, “this is nothing like that time. That was a special darkness, as it was the darkness of transformation. This darkness is a cold darkness, whereas that was warm. This is a scary and inhibiting darkness whilst that was safe and peaceful. They are so different.

I feel a sense of sadness in this darkness, because although I am free to move, I cannot enjoy where I am going. Most of the world is cut off from me because I cannot see it or make it out, and that I find scary. I don’t want to offend you, for I can see that you are awake in the darkness and that this is the time when you do all that you desire. However, why would you choose to live in this darkness when you could live in the day and the light and the warmth?”

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The owl thought for a while about how he could explain some of the joys of existing in the darkness.

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“We become who we were always created to be, when we find the environment where we are meant to live. I was created for the night time and the darkness and to exist within its confines and parameters. You were made to live in the day and in all that the day brings. We are different. We were made for different purposes. If I was to live only in the day, I would feel as contained as you were by the darkness that held you for that short time.”

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“Doesn’t that make you sad, that you can only really live at night and are robbed of the beauty and colour of the world which can only be seen in the daylight hours? Do you not grieve, as you see the sun coming up and the blueness of the sky emerging, that your time for living and exploring is coming to an end and you need to rest and sleep? How can you be content to live in the darkness with so much gloom and nothingness? I would want to die if all I had to look forward to was blackness and more blackness.”

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“You see not as I see,” replied the owl. “You were never created to live and exist in darkness and so you contain none of the things necessary for such an environment. I am very different. I was made for this and so what you see as blackness, I see as mystery. What you see as scary, I see as thrilling. Where you see ugliness, I see a beauty that can only be seen through the eyes of darkness.

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Many possess a light within them which cannot be seen in the daylight hours. It takes the night and darkness before such a light is visible. These species literally light up at night and only I can see their beauty, for only I am awake during the night hours. Oh, and the stars! The heavens are exploding with them. Their beauty continues to enthral and captivate me and whilst the world sleeps and misses this wondrous sight, I have them all to myself. I have no need to share them with others, for they come out simply for my enjoyment.

At night time, I meet so many friends. It is true that their external beauty is hidden by the darkness. However, darkness is a great leveller, for none stand out because of their colour or appearance. All of that is hidden at night. We are not distracted by surface markings. Instead, we must search deeper into other’s beings in order to discover who they really are.

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I have gained a wisdom and unearthed truths only possible by living in the darkness. I have faced things which in the light seem a mystery, but in the darkness, they make sense. In order to survive in the dark, one must use every gift and every sense. You discover parts of yourself that would never have been unearthed, except that they were needed in order to exist in darkness. I have been fortunate enough to live in both the light and the darkness but most of what I have discovered and drawn my wisdom from, has been acquired in the night times of my life.

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In the same way as you were transformed during your time of darkness, I am changed day by day by the wisdom I gain, night after night. You are afraid of the dark and stay away from it and the fear of it haunts you. I have learnt that there is nothing more to fear from the darkness than from the light. Each have their lessons. Each have their dangers and joys.

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Therefore, do not be afraid of the night. It is just different from the day, but it has joys and hopes contained within it that can transform your understanding of the world you inhabit. Enjoy where you were placed, but do not let the fear of the unknown trick you into believing that one thing is all bad and another is all good. Nothing works that way. There are joys and sorrows in all things, they are intimately entwined and cannot be separated. Don’t be deceived into believing that day is good and night is bad or that summer is great and winter awful. All are needed to achieve the world’s purposes. Each has their own beauty and each contain their own poison.

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As you come into my world of darkness, try not to focus on what you have lost. Instead, focus on all that you could never see during daylight hours. There are incredible treasures to be discovered as much in the darkness as there are in the light. The secret is to look for them. I have discovered things that I cannot describe to you, for you have no context within which to place them. I am also aware that although I spent a short time living in the daylight, there will be many things that you have seen and understand which I may never grasp or comprehend. Whilst you can thank God that you were made to live in the day, I can equally thank him that I was made to live at night.

Always enjoy wherever you are placed. If you decide to visit me in the night, allow it to reveal truths and mysteries to you. If I visit you in the day, let me discover truths which have been hidden in darkness but uncovered in light. Let us share the wealth that we possess.”

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“Thank you” said the butterfly “for sharing with me how you feel and for opening my eyes to the mystery of the darkness. You have helped me to see that there is beauty and ugliness in both the day and the night and that I need to focus not on what is missing in one place but on what I can find that is new and different. You have helped me appreciate that I must never be afraid of the unknown or the different, for within all things created there lies truths, if we but have hearts to seek them out.

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