The eagle´s nest sets high above on a craggy mountain side, away from danger. The little eaglets snuggle close against her warmth as the dewy mountain breeze announces that at last it is morning. The sun kisses the new day with His beauty. Unknown to the eaglets, today is going to be much different than all the other days that they have encountered so far. Nothing would compare to the new experience that would begin this new day.

The eaglets watched as their mother raised her huge wings and flew off the nest. She soared upward, climbing higher and higher until the young ones could not see her. They watched as she flew back down and circled the nest time after time, until the lashing wind forced the little ones to lay flat in the nest for safety. Terror struck their little hearts as the brutal wind grew stronger and she drew closer flapping her wings. The mother eagle hurriedly completed her descent, then she perched on the side of the nest. The eaglets´ confusion quickly fled and finally they felt safe and secure enough to stand up in the nest.

Without warning, the mother eagle spread her powerful wings again. She began to lift her mighty wings and began flapping them again. She created such a forceful wind that the eaglets could not withstand it. Suddenly they fell out of the nest and instantly began hurling aimlessly downward. The eaglets had no idea how to fly A fear like none they had ever experienced made their hearts pound like a beating drum. The ground looked closer and closer. They knew that when they hit the rocky cliff below that they would surely die. Suddenly out of nowhere their mother swooped under the eaglets and they fell safely onto her broad wings, shocked but ever so thankful. But as quickly as she had landed back on the nest and made the eaglets get off her back, she began the process again. Those giant wings whirled like the blades of a helicopter and immediately the eaglets started their descent again. This process was repeated several times, until at last the eaglets had learned to fly. One day they would soar through the heavenlies just like their mother.

We must all learn how to fly, before we can soar like the eagles. Our loving God sometimes has to push us out of the nest, so we can learn to lean on Him. Until we can trust His judgment and ways, we are as helpless as those little eaglets. But like the mother bird, when we aimlessly fall, He is always there to swoop under us and carry us on His wings of love, until we can faithfully stand again.

Tara Hart ©2002 all rights reserved