Eagles

I've been watching eagles lately.  They’re all over here, especially bald eagles.  Their nests are at the very tops of these huge trees and they call to each other all the time.  We've watched them grab food and take it away, fight with each other and with other birds, and soar.  The soaring is the most interesting thing to me.  It’s so majestic.  And it struck me the other day: this is exactly what God has created them to do.  Their bodies are uniquely designed to soar.  The boys borrowed a Zoobooks magazine from the Juneau Public Library about eagles and there was an in-depth description about how wings work with air pressure and everything.  The experiment in the magazine showed how you can blow across the top of a piece of paper that you are holding on one side and the paper will just lift up.  It was one more science thing that I can’t quite wrap my mind around, yet it amazes me.

So I watch the eagles soaring and two more things strike me:

• Sometimes they just seem to soar for the sake of soaring.  Wings outstretched, letting the wind guide them like they enjoy it!  I understand that I’m no eagle expert and that they’re probably hunting some of that time or scouting out a landing place or some such thing.  But don’t you think they sometimes do it for fun?  If I was a bird, I sure would!  God has designed their wings to carry them to great heights and great lengths. 
•  They trust.  They trust the air pressure to do what it is supposed to do and keep them up.  They don’t think about trusting, they just do.  It’s their instinct.  It’s never failed them before. 

God has created eagles with the bodies and instincts to do what they need to do.  He has done the same for us, only more so because we are made in His image.  We are created for a purpose and God has uniquely designed us to fulfill that purpose.  And we need to be who He made us to be with full abandonment, being filled with the joy that comes only from a relationship with Him and trusting in the One who has never failed us.  Are you letting go in trust?  Are you enjoying being who God has made you to be?

“…but they who wait for the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles….”  Isaiah 40:31