As we move through this journey called life it is amazing to stop and look back at how far we have traveled simply by living each day as it comes. Sometimes time moves so slowly you can almost hear each second slowly tick past. Other times days seem to fly along at an almost dizzying pace. There are mountain top moments when you wish you could camp out and stay there for years. There are some very dark cold times when you don't know how you can go on there for another minute, let alone another hour and can't even imagine making it through a day. Yet as a sum total of days, weeks and years pass it is hard to fathom where all the days have gone.
Sometimes the most shocking thing for me is to see how elderly and fragile my parents suddenly seem. This would would be a frightening reality if not for the God, His only Son, Jesus who came that we might have eternal life and the Holy Spirit who gives us the calm assurance and strength to keep going no matter what this life brings. The promise that is is not all there is. This journey is one way only and will be over before you know it. What will the journey beyond this hold for you? If you don't know please take some of your valuable time to research and be sure that you know. When I awoke this morning a couple old songs were running through my head:
Do You Know Where You're Going To
Do You Know
Where you're going to?
Do you like the things?
That life is showing you
Where are you going to?
Do you know?
Do you get?
What you're hoping for?
When you look behind you
There's no open doors
What are you hoping for?
Do you know?
Once we were standing still, in time
Chasing the fantasies and feeling all nice
You knew how I loved you, but my-spirit was free
Laughing at the questions
That you once asked of me
Do you get?
What you're hoping for
When you look behind you
There's no open doors
What are you hoping for?
Do you know?
Now looking back at all we've had
We let so many dreams just slip through our hands
Why must we wait so long, before we see?
How sad the answers to those questions can be
Do you get?
What you're hoping for
When you look behind you
There's no open doors
What are you hoping for?
Do you know?
The other song in my head this morning is one that has been playing there a lot lately....
Life Is Hard (God Is Good) by Pam Thum:
You turn the key
Then close the door behind you
Drop your bags on the floor
You reach for the lightBut there's darkness deep inside
And you can't take it anymore
'Cause sometimes living takes the life out of you
And sometimes living is all you can do
Life is hard, the world is cold
We're barely young and then we're old
But every falling tear is always understood
Yes, life is hard, but God is good
You start to cry
'Cause you've been strong for so long
And that's not how you feel
You try to pray
But there's nothing left to say
So you just quietly kneel
In the silence of all that you face
God will give you His mercy and grace
Jesus never said
It was an easy road to travel
He only said that you would never be alone
So when your last thread of hope
Begins to come unraveled
Don't give up, He walks beside you
On this journey home and He knows
Life is hard, the world is cold
We're barely young and then we're old
But every falling tear is always understood
Yes, life is hard, but God is good
Fly Like An Eagle by Steve Miller Band
Time keeps on slippin', slippin', slippin'
Into the future
Time keeps on slippin', slippin', slippin'
Into the future
I want to fly like an eagle
To the sea
Fly like an eagle
Let my spirit carry me
I want to fly like an eagle
Till I'm free
Oh, Lord, through the revolution
Feed the babies
Who don't have enough to eat
Shoe the children
With no shoes on their feet
House the people
Livin' in the street
Oh, oh, there's a solution
[ Lyrics from: hp://www.lyricsmode.com/lyrics/s/steve_miller_band/fly_like_an_eagle.html ]
I want to fly like an eagle
To the sea
Fly like an eagle
Let my spirit carry me
I want to fly like an eagle
Till I'm free
Fly through the revolution
Time keeps on slippin', slippin', slippin'
Into the future
Time keeps on slippin', slippin', slippin'
Into the future
Time keeps on slippin', slippin', slippin'
Into the future
Time keeps on slippin', slippin', slippin'
Into the future
I want to fly like an eagle
To the sea
Fly like an eagle
Let my spirit carry me
I want to fly like an eagle
Till I'm free
Fly through the revolution
Time keeps on slippin', slippin', slippin'
Into the future
Time keeps on slippin', slippin', slippin'
Into the future
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FXsDfZUgyd4
The eagle is a symbol used many times in Scripture. In fact, it is
mentioned 39 times throughout the Bible. We can learn some
very important lessons from this majestic creation of God.
Eagles have a wing span of 2 meters and are around 90 cm
tall. The eagle mates for life and uses the same nest for
life. This nest is built in a safe place, often on a ledge
of a sharp cliff. It is built to last and the largest nest
reported was 9 1/2 feet wide and 20 feet deep.
When the babies are born, both parents assume responsibility
for their care. They are gentle parents, sitting on the eggs
for one month. The parents bring food up to the nest and
feed them small pieces of meat. Within 45 days, they
can weigh nearly 40 times their birth weight.
At three months they get special feathers for flying and a
new learning experience begins. The Mother eagle flies into the
nest and begins to thrash around causing a great commotion.
Eventually, one of the babies will fall out of the nest and will
begin heading for the earth below. Never having used his
wings before, he's not really sure what to do, but does
do a lot of flapping while heading straight down.
Just before the baby eagle hit's the ground, the Mother eagle
flies underneath in order to catch the baby on her powerful
wings and she flies him safely back to the nest. This continues
on day after day until all the babies learn how to fly.
There are two verses in scripture that actually mention this routine
Israel how God cared for them and guarded them "just like an eagle that
stirs up its nest and hovers over its young, that spreads its wings in
God says that "He will carry the children of Israel on eagle's wings."
We can get very comfortable in our nest. Perhaps that can be our
way of doing things, our way of thinking, our opinions, our way of
living life. Then when God comes and stirs up our nest, we get
upset. We don't always identify this as a growing experience.
Sometimes if we were really honest, we really don't want to grow.
We get very complacent and satisfied with where we are and
any interruptions are viewed as negative. But God wants us
to fly, to become all that he intends for us to become.
He never stirs up our nest without good reason.
Did you know the eagle can see a rabbit two miles away?
It can soar up to two miles above the ground and can fly
at speeds up to 100 miles an hour. They have a separate
eyelid which slides across the eye sideways in order
to keep the eye clean and free from dust as they fly.
Their bones are hollow and therefore light of frame.
Their frame has cross ribs, like steal bars in sky scrapers.
The eagle has 7000 feathers. The back feathers are as
long as the head feathers. Their beak is black until
they turn 3 years of age, and then it turns golden.
When eagles are about 30 years old, they go through a
renewal process. They find a secret place high in the mountains
and begin to claw at their face and tear out the feathers that
have been damaged over the years. As a result, it bleeds
badly. But this is necessary for the eagle in order to
renew its strength. If it did not do this, it would not
be able to live to its normal 60 years of age.
Psalms 103:5 says, "who satisfies your desires with good things
so that your youth is renewed like the eagles." A time of renewal
is necessary for every child of God. A time when we get rid of
what is weighing us down, holding us back, aging us spiritually.
A time to give up the sinful habits, to give in to the Holy
Spirit in whichever way He is convicting us.
We need to do this, even to the point of renewal with pain.
Some things we hold on to so tightly, that to let go actually
causes us pain. But in order to have the long, powerful,
useful, spiritual life that God plans for us, we need to
do that. It will renew our spiritual youthfulness.
When the eagles are free to soar in God's creation, they are
the cleanest of birds. They were created to be free and to soar
to great heights. They were not meant to remain close to the
earth in the lowlands. They were created to soar. When they
are held in captivity, they become one of the dirtiest birds.
God has created us to remain pure and holy and conformed to
His image. Don't allow the freedom we are to experience in
Him to be compromised by spending too much time in worldly
thinking, activities and mindsets. We need to remain clean.
Eagles do not fly like other birds, they don't flap their wings,
they soar! Flapping their wings would use incredible amounts
of their own strength and endurance, and they would require
so much more food as fuel if they didn't soar.
Instead, they sit on a high ledge and wait for the right wind
currents to come. When the time is right, they take off and
soar upwards, effortlessly, because they have waited for the
right time. There is a special "up going" wind that they
ride as it circles higher and higher toward the sky.
What a lesson for God's children to learn. How often do
we loose strength by jumping out too soon and flapping
our wings
instead of waiting for God's timing.
Waiting is not a popular concept in these days of instant
everything. But when we wait on the Lord, wait for His
timing, wait for His answers, wait for His direction,
then we can soar to new heights and fly to new places.
I frequently remind my children that waiting isn't just a matter
of doing the waiting time but it is truly measure by how well
you spent that time while you were waiting.
"Those who wait on the Lord will renew their strength,
they will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and
not grow weary, they will walk and not faint."
Isaiah 40:31
|
|
No comments:
Post a Comment