Eagles

A heavenly flight
I am in awe over what I have recently learned about eagles. I will draw heavily on the life lessons from these mighty birds, creating a metaphor for teachable humans. Bullet points will be followed by an eagle to human analogy: join me for this heavenly flight, dear reader?

All about eagles

• They typically live to seventy years
• They, along with hawks, have the keenest eyesight
• They hunt their prey and eat fresh meat
• Their beaks get bent, their talons dull, and feathers thicken over time
• They fly above storms
• They avoid danger, except when protecting their young or their territory against predators
• They mate for life with one partner 

After reading the above points, you may be saying to yourself, this in interesting, but not captivating. So what, what is the writer going on about? Allow me to elaborate: take the time to learn what I have?

At the age of forty

At the age of forty, an eagle isn't as capable as he or she once was, to hunt and kill, protect and defend. With a bent beak, dull talons and heavy feathers, this bird is somewhat hindered from soaring and providing for itself. It is at this point in this life-of-an-eagle recounting, that we humans can perk up our ears and take notice.

Just past midlife

At just past the midlife point, the eagle will take itself somewhere high up for a five month rejuvenation process. The eagle intentionally bashes its well worn bent beak, until it breaks off: low and behold, a new and improved beak grows in to take its place. Next, the eagle will pluck out its talons with said beak, and you guessed it, new ones grow into place, sharp enough to make the eagle a threat again to the snakes (and other prey) it hunts, kills and eats (less snakes in the world, of the animal and human variety, isn't such a bad thing, now is it dear reader?). Lastly, the eagle, using those blade point sharp talons, plucks out the thickened feathers that have made flight cumbersome: renewal occurs, and freshly sprouted feathers makes for smooth soaring on way up high air currents, easy yet again, for this majestic creature. For the next thirty years of the eagles life, they are brand new... and dear one, you can be too.

Bash out your old beak

The question is, are you willing to bash out your old beak, pluck out your dull talons and next, remove thickened heavy awkward feathers, in preparation for the second half of your life? The cognitive operation of renewal is a painful one, and it requires faith in the process, to bring about significant change.

Allow me to simplify this dear one:

• You have some dull and desperate ways that need change
• You have patterns of behaviour, and thinking habits, that would benefit from bashing out
• Your flight patterns may be circular, getting you no where and perhaps even, keeping you way too close to the ground, preventing you from seeing the panorama from above
• Your vision may be restricted to what is immediately in front of you, keeping you from seeing the opportunities that may advance you in your purposes here on earth 
• I invite you to further extrapolate, given the information provided in point form above

I needed this lesson

The metaphor of the eagle is simply glorious. I don't know about you dear reader, but I needed this lesson, this reminder, to take a good hard look at myself, my thinking patterns, my status quo approach to life, and the redundancies of behaviours that no longer serve me and in fact, make me dull and ineffective. The eagle life modelled for me the mindset of restoration and being a new creation in Christ:

Renew your strength

"But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint" (Isaiah 40:31)

We are called to greatness
We are called to greatness dear reader. The here and now is not all there is: the eternal is calling us forth and it is graduation time. If you haven't done the hard work of self evaluation, perhaps you can take the time now, before the New Year, our 2020, begins?

I promise you, your efforts will be rewarded! 

Now, is your time