The Owl Who Was Afraid Of The Dark - Jill Thomlinson

This story was so beloved in our family when I was growing up that one of the lines in it was

regularly used at meal times when trying to get (more) pudding “My mouse place is full up,

but my grasshopper place isn’t.” This passed down to my own children before they had even

read the book so when I first read it with them there was a very definite ‘A-ha’ moment!

For those unfamiliar with the story of Plop (as the title used to begin), here’s the synopsis…

A baby barn owl (Plop) tries to convince his parents that he should be a day-bird because he is scared of the dark. His mother convinces him to leave the tree and ask questions of different people (one per chapter) about the dark which results in him finding out amazing things about the thing he was scared of. He continues to try and convince himself, and his parents, that he is scared of the dark, but gradually comes to an understanding that his viewpoint has changed.

Very early on we realise that his mother is trying to teach him a fundamental owl/human truth – we are scared of what we do not know, and will stay scared if we make no effort to understand.

This is something we can recognise in our own communities and in our children’s

lives so often – going to a new place may be scary (even if that new place is ostensibly something fun) because our child can’t visualise it. Meeting new people might feel scary because our children don’t know how they will be received. Starting a new school/church/after-school club might all be thought of as scary… until more information is gathered. It is one of the reasons pre-schools primary schools, and later primary schools; secondary schools, put

time and effort in to ‘transition’ (or ‘Moving-up’) days. With knowledge comes security.

We encourage our children to ask questions in order to calm their fears. Let’s be honest, we continue to do exactly the same thing as we get older – ‘the more you know’ is an often-used phrase, the implication being ‘the better off you are’.

We see this reflected so much in the gospels; people come to Jesus seeking understanding. They come confused and unsure and want knowledge in order that they might understand more (in some cases…!). Some were scared of Jesus because they were afraid of losing their own position and power (the Pharisees) and asked questions to trick, not to understand.

Some were scared because they saw incredible works Jesus did and the questions they asked were truly trying to understand who it was they saw in front of them. For example, Luke records the reaction of the disciples to the calming of the storm:

“And they were afraid, and they marvelled, saying to one another, “Who then is this, that he commands even winds and water, and they obey him?””

Luke 6 v 25

As we continue to follow the story of these same disciples through the account of Luke we see the wonderful truth that ‘the more they know’ the more they come to love and trust the Lord. The same continues to be true of us now; those who continue to ask and seek the understanding of the Lord find, with each new chapter of life, something they had not seen before.

Jesus himself invites his hearers (which includes us and our children) to continue to ask questions:

“So I say to you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened. 

Luke 11 v 9-10

We could, with Plop the Owl, switch out the word ‘dark’ and find that the Lord is: exciting, kind, fun, necessary, fascinating, wonderful, beautiful and, over all, ‘Super’!