Fly Eagle Fly

A story is told of a farmer who, while walking the mountainside close by his farm, found an eaglet. He took it home, nursed it, fed it and as it got better he kept it with his chickens. A friend of his would come by frequently for sundowners. When the friend saw this weird looking chicken, he commented on it. When told it was an eagle, he went on to say that the eagle did not belong with the chickens. The farmer on the other hand was adamant that the tiny eagle would be fine growing up with the chicks and in fact he went on to say that it would be fine because it would think it's a chicken and therefore live like one and be happy.

Years passed. The eagle grew. The debate continued.

The fully grown eagle ran around like a chicken. It scratched the sunbaked ground for food. It was... a chicken. The farmer looked at this and couldn't help but boast to his friend how ‘right' he was because the eagle was doing everything like and with the chickens and there were no signs of unhappiness. His friend on the other hand was not convinced. He kept on saying that this was not a chicken but an eagle. To him this was the king of the birds belonging in the air and not on the ground. At this the farmer laughed and said, ‘This thing can't even fly, how can it be the king of the sky?' So they made an agreement: His friend would come every morning and take a walk with the bird and after some time they would assess the results.

‘Take all the time you need my friend. This is a chicken and will always be a chicken. I have fed it like a chicken and it has learnt the ways of chickens. It is only an eagle by sight but in every other way it's a chicken and will always be a chicken!'

So the morning visits began. The farmers' friend would take the bird for the walks. Two years went by and without failure every morning they took a walk. The farmer enjoyed this. It meant he saw his friend more but above all he could mock him. Without failure he would tell him how this was a waste of time and energy.

One morning, the farmers' friend arrived much earlier than normal. He got the bird and invited the farmer to join them on the walk. They climbed the nearby mountain and reached the top just as the sun was rising. He took the bird and faced it towards the sun and said, ‘Fly Eagle fly; you were meant for the skies!' At that, the bird flapped its mighty wings and took off, never to return.

A sad number of us look in the mirror and see what we are not. We look in the mirror of life and we see our failures and our disappointments. We cringe and coil into an iron sealed cocoon accepting our fate as nobodies. We succumb to the belief that whatever we touch turns to failure. We start to live in that world that says, ‘Don't even think about doing this or saying that, you'll just disappoint a lot of people.' For some of us, this is what we've been told all our lives; that we are useless and will amount to nothing. We therefore have no dreams or aspirations to become anything. We are scratching around with the chickens. We look up to the sky and see eagles flying and in shame hang our heads and say, ‘I am a chicken, ground level is where I belong.'

Not true!

And dare I say not of God. For in God we are more than conquerors and we can do all things through Christ who strengthens us. The problem is, we overlook the small things like the word all. You can do all things through Christ. You might be so beaten up that you don't even have the strength to get up and try again. So let me suggest a starting point. Let me also say that I want to focus on those of us who feel that we have been so bad there is no way back to God. You might be scratching among the chickens because you feel so dirty and stained by your past that you think God will never accept you. If that's you, read on.

Paul says we must be transformed by the renewal of our minds. Your transformation begins in your thoughts. I like to think that the view from heaven of you and I is totally different to what we see. Where others see failure, God sees potential. Where you see crimson stains of sin holding you back, Jesus sees the wounds which mean mercy and forgiveness for you. One of my favourite characters in the Bible is Simon Peter. Peter was a fisherman yet every time there is mention of him fishing he was catching nothing. Also, in Jewish culture then, if you weren't ‘good enough' to continue studying and be a disciple of a Rabbi, you had to go and do your father's trade. So Jesus, when he calls the twelve to change the world in His Name doesn't go to find the ones showing the most promise as was the norm rather he goes for those who have been told, ‘you are chickens, go and scratch around like one, go and do your fathers trade!' He comes along and He says... ‘I don't see failure and uselessness but I see a rock upon which I can and will build my church.'

So I ask, what does He say when he looks at you. I can guarantee He does not say you are a failure and hopeless. Yes He may have to take you aside for two weeks, months, years decades, whatever to get you to realise that you are more than what you think. For Peter, it took 3 years. From a useless fisherman he went on to preach and convert 3000 in one go, he healed the crippled, he healed the lame and sick by merely having his shadow pass over them. That is the dynamite potential we have and can be unleashed from you and I if we allow Christ to be Christ in and through our lives.

It sounds all good and exciting that God can and wants to unearth this potential in us but you may be feeling that you've messed up too much. You may still be feeling way too impure to even think about approaching God. Here's another short story.

A young man went to his father and said, ‘Dad, with all due respect, you are taking too long to die. Time waits for nobody so um may I please have my portion of my inheritance!' Broken-hearted the not-so-keen-to-die father obliged. The son went as far from home as he possibly could. He squandered his wealth on debaucheries living until he had nothing left but the clothes on him. He got so hungry he was tempted to eat with the pigs he was tending. He then decides to go back to his father with the view of becoming one of his father's workers/slaves. But while he was still a long way off, his daddy saw him and did what was not done... he ran to him and to cut a long story short, restored him as his son...FULLY!

That's my version of a story told by Jesus. God loves us enough to let us go and when we've gone he looks out every day unto the horizon in the hope that we too might come to our senses and know that He shall always welcome us back. When we get back, we're not condemned rather restored fully as sons and daughters who will share an inheritance with the Son who never left, Jesus.

When you hear His voice today, do not harden your heart. No matter where you are, no matter what you've done and how much shame and guilt you're drowning in, leave, head for home and approach the throne of grace with boldness in the full knowledge of the Father-heart of God which will welcome you back home and restore you as His child fully.

You do not belong on the ground with chickens; you do not belong in tattered clothes feeding pigs. You were meant for the skies; you have a home in God and He has a purpose for your life.

Fly eagle fly you were meant for the skies.

Fly (enter your name) you were meant for the skies.