Seals of Orkney

These common seals I observed on some rocks off the coastline at St Margaret’s Hope in Orkney. Seals often rest on rocks or beaches while they digest their last meal, awaiting a higher tide to wash them into deeper waters. These individuals were not entirely comfortable with my watching them, so I betook my leave after a minute or so. On those rocks they appeared clumsy and barely mobile, waddling and wobbling into more comfortable positions. In water, however, they glide and swim up to speeds of 24mph. Although mammals rather than fish, and a species for which land is rather useful, their natural environment is aquatic. Although the seas are not without their dangers, a seal in water is agile, athletic and astute, not the sluggish couch potatoes we see on land.

This world is no longer the Christian’s natural habitat. It is an alien planet, a hostile environment. While we breathe its air and imbibe its waters, we are weak and weary. In heaven, we shall be as vibrant and confident as Adam before he fell; till then, we need to seek that filling of the Holy Spirit, which shall make more dynamic our movements, and the more heavenly our existence.  

This world is not my home, I’m just a-passing through,

My treasures are laid up somewhere beyond the blue;

The angels beckon me from heaven’s open door,

And I can’t feel at home in this world anymore.

O Lord, You know I have no friend like You,

If heaven’s not my home, then, Lord, what will I do?

The angels beckon me from heaven’s open door,

And I can’t feel at home in this world anymore.

-Albert Brumley