I had the unexpected blessing recently of getting a couple of days to view a couple of bald eagles out in the wild while taking a prayer retreat. I sat for hours simply watching one eagle perched nobly high atop a tree near the edge of a private lake. I watched him until the sun went down rendering it impossible for me to make out his silhouette any longer. Periodically he would move his head from side to side but not once in nearly two hours did he flap a wing, move to another branch, or set flight to somewhere else. He did not even budge when a huge fish jumped out the water causing a large splash right underneath where he was perched.
It was fascinating. I arose early the next morning to spend some time with the Lord outdoors in the exact same place I had sat observing the first eagle the day before and saw two eagles perched on the same limb on the opposite side of the lake. I wondered if it was a male and female. One of the things I have learned about eagles is that they mate for life. It reminded me of Brenda and I began thinking about how we are like eagles. My heart soared when one of them left the branch and began circling the lake looking for fish. Not once but three times I had a front row seat to watch that eagle circle over the water and then glide right over the surface reaching into the water with his or her talons for a catch. Did you know that eagles have enough strength to lift approximately four pounds into the air? What a majestic sight.
While talking to Darrell Fishbeck and a few others over the course of the next few days I learned a few things about eagles. I then did some research and learned a few more facts. Eagles have the ability to soar to an altitude as high as 10,000 feet. When storms come eagles simply soar up above them. They achieve speeds of 30-35 mph making them the highest flying bird and one of if not the fastest of all birds. Eagles can live as long thirty years in the wild but face dangers of being killed prematurely from gun shots, electrocution, being hit by moving vehicles, or starvation. Eagles have also been blessed with extremely strong eyesight. In 1782, the eagle was adopted as the national emblem for the United States. When eagles mate they do so for life.
As much as I loved hearing and researching all the characteristics about eagles what has moved my heart the most is the fact that when storms approach eagles mount up on their wings and soar above the storms. Finally after twenty plus years of reading Is 40:31 it made sense to me.
Many of us are tired from life’s battles and challenges. In our weariness it is so easy to neglect waiting on the Lord and allowing Him to strengthen us and helping us to mount up like eagles to rise above our troubles in the spiritual realm. From that perspective we can at least be comforted that just as trials have a starting point they also have an ending point. We can get God’s perspective on those storms and be strengthened to keep running and to keep walking.
When we are in the middle of our storms it easy to get disoriented and believe that there is no hope. We lose precious energy worrying anxiously about what we are enduring. The eagle never has to go through that. He senses the coming storm and gets above it. O how I pray we could learn to do the same thing spiritually. How much fretting, anxiety, and sleepless nights could be cast away if we could learn to wait on the Lord like an eagle and soar on our spiritual wings above our circumstances.
I hope the next time you face a storm and are tempted to lose perspective you will remember the eagle. Father, thank you for lessons learned from the eagle. Please help us to learn from his example. Amen.
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