Chicken or Eagle
>> Thursday, November 7, 2013
A folktale handed down through the years is of an Indian who
found an eagle’s egg. Unable to find the nest it came from, he slipped the egg
in the nest of a prairie chicken. When the eggs hatched, out came several
chickens and one eagle.
But it didn’t know it was an eagle.
So it scratched in the dirt, pecked for seeds and fluttered
its wings to fly a few feet above the ground. Occasionally it would raise its
head, spot an eagle soaring high in the sky and wonder what that would feel
like.
But it was a chicken, so it would lower its head and return
to pecking in the dirt…never delighting in that glorious feeling.
I grew up in a chicken pen.
Due to a combination of older age, too many children and
religion, my mother filled my head with rules and judgments that kept me scratching
in the dirt and eating seeds. At school I would see a group of children…laughing
and playing together…and wonder what that would feel like.
But I was an obedient daughter and a Christian, so I would
sit alone. It was my lot in life to stay true to God. There would be no soaring
for me.
How grateful I am for the people in my life that saw my
eagle’s wings and asked questions about why I wasn’t using them. What a
surprise and delight to discover God had endowed me with the capability to soar.
“But those who trust in the Lord
will find new strength. They will soar
high on wings like eagles. They will run and not grow weary. They will walk and
not faint.” Isaiah 40:31 (NLT)
