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When Eagles Soar


Note: This article is a sequel to Before Eagles Fly.

Eaglets take about three and a half to five years before they become adults. As their mums and dads work hard in raising new kids, their childhood nests are no longer theirs.

At this tender age, they are too young to build their own aeries. They may try to build their nests but they will be just playhouses – like those that preschoolers build with construction blocks without proper fastening, bonding and strengthening. Some plunge steeply as they construct their nests. Most survive and try again.

The eaglets are not good at catching fish when they first leave home. They pick up dead fish along the shores. They progress to picking up dead fish floating in rivers and lakes. Months later, they graduate to catching fishes swimming alive near the surface of the waters. Through much practice and hard work, they perfect their skills until they have zero misses.

Having a stale diet of only fish is not able to satisfy the growing appetite of these eaglets. They recall the sweetness and aroma of those small pieces of meat their parents have fed them with. They start by sharing dead carcasses with other predators. They go on to hunt for small animals like rabbits before moving on to the larger ones.

Each of the eaglets has additional but separate eyelids to keep both eyes clean and dust free everywhere they go. Their bones are hollow. Howbeit their frames are light, they are robust and strong with crossed structured ribs and firm muscles. The eaglets have about 7000 feathers each. Their back feathers are as long as the head feathers. Their beaks are black in colour but turn golden at age 3.

Most eagles don't start breeding until they are seven years old. They will spend most of their time traveling on vacations - learning and exploring their world. Without any specific supervision and direction, they wander off. Along the way, they learn and formulate their own patterns – where to go, what to eat and when to migrate. They have good memory of where they have been. During those adolescent years, many will find their helpmates. Almost all eagle couples stay together for life. They will build their permanent aeries at the locations where they spend most of their winters.

Eagles are created to soar great heights. They are not to remain flying over the lowlands. Unlike other birds, eagles do not have to flap their wings while soaring. Flapping require lots of energy and efforts.

Eagles learn to soar by waiting for the arrival of thermal currents of air. The hot surrounding terrain generates these warm air streams. As the eagles sit on the high ledges, they patiently wait for the right moments to come. When those heat waves arrive, the eagles take off and soar upward by just spreading widely their wings.

Their feathers act like aerofoils of the jetplanes. Created in many different shapes, they are able to tilt back and forth, up and down. One way to increase the lift is to have more curved aerofoils. In executing these small initial motions, the laws of thermodynamics set in. Above the wings will be low pressures but beneath the wings will be high pressures. This pressure differential activates an upward thrust causing the eagle to soar higher and higher. Effortlessly.

After the takeoff, they turn their feathers to cruising mode, gliding and riding the heavens freely, graciously and majestically.

But those who wait on the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint. Isaiah 40:31

The hardest lesson for most Christians is to wait on the Lord – not as a master waiting for the Servant to serve him but as a servant waiting to serve the Master. We are action-packed with programs and activities – vigorously and zealously flapping our wings, performing a lot of drama but achieving very little results.

Until we come to terms that we are weak and He is strong, we will always go wrong. The secret is to abide in Him as He abides in us. This will foster trust and increase faith. The Holy Spirit is not only the Breath of God; He is also our beloved Teacher and Instructor!

Born free to ride the heavens with our God, we must not conform to the world, be captivated by it and be held in captivity. As the eagles get older, they go through a renewal process. They will find a secret place high up in the mountains. There they claw and scratch their faces, and tear out those feathers that have been damaged over the years. In doing so, they bleed profusely. This is a necessary process for the eagles to renew the strength of their youth (Psalm 103:5). No more rotten, reluctant, obstinate, stubborn and inflexible but renewed, restored, revitalized, re-energized and transformed!

The Holy Wind of God is here. We can feel His warmth and His embrace. The Holy Spirit is wooing us to break through, take off and soar as He lifts us upwards!

There are heights of joy we cannot know till we soar with Him!