Our family’s favorite summer place is a beautiful lake surrounded by gentle hills filled with giant pine trees, one of which holds an eagle’s nest. It’s so inspiring to gaze up at the clear blue sky and see an eagle soaring fetterless in the openness of the heavens, unhindered in its ascending path. This speaks to me of freedom’s way for each one of us.
Perhaps, though, we sometimes feel earthbound by limited supply or opportunity, by illness, age, or sorrow that would hinder us from unfurling our wings and aiming for a skyward flight.
If this is the case, there’s a useful fable about a baby eagle who fell from his nest. A farmer found him and placed him in his chicken coop to be raised among the chickens, who of course do not soar. Having no knowledge of his capacity to fly to freedom, the eagle stayed confined in the chicken coop. One day, though, he saw a bird flying in the sky and it looked similar to himself. He now had a new model of soaring possibilities! He saw what he was designed to do and eventually took off in flight.
