Learning to Fly Like an Eagle

At church on Sunday the theme was based off of Isaiah 40:31;

But those who wait on the LORD
      Shall renew their strength;
      They shall mount up with wings like eagles,
      They shall run and not be weary,
      They shall walk and not faint.

This has always been one of my favorite verses in the Bible, just because the visual of flying like an eagle was always appealing to me. The bald eagle is and always has been my favorite animal. It is majestic, strong, beautiful, and most of all, it soars above everything. I always thought it would be great to be able to soar like an eagle!

When I think of soaring, I think of peace, speed, and even the avoidance of problems, but Pastor handed out a story that made me think of a different aspect of soaring. The story follows the training of an eagle teaching a young one to fly. First the mother eagle pushes the little one out of the nest and removes the soft moss in the nest to bare thorns so that when the young one jumps back in the thorns poke it and it jumps back out. Then as it is falling, the father eagle swoops down and catches it on his back. This process repeats itself until the young eagle learns to spread it's wings and fly.

This story made me think, maybe flying like an eagle, at the beginning, isn't so peaceful. Sometimes we have to deal with thorns, and falling, until we learn to spread our wings and fly.