Eagle!

Powerful Life Lessons From the Eagle

The eagle is a fascinating bird. Known for its power and ability to fly at high altitudes in the sky. It flies where no other bird can fly. As children, we are often told to soar like an eagle. Aim high and FLY. Oh, but if only it were that simple! I recently read a web article on the ways of the eagle and thought I’d highlight the lessons we can learn from them. Consider the eagle…..Proverbs 3:19

1.     Eagles have excellent vision and concentration. 

2. Eagles love the storm. They get excited when storm clouds gather. They know the storm winds will lift them above the clouds. Above the clouds, they can rest their wings and become stronger.

3. The eagle is a master of change management. The mother eagle carefully prepares the nest for its eggs. When it is time for the eaglet to learn to fly, the mother removes the comfort layers from the nest, exposing the pricks and sticks. She then throws the eaglets out of the nest. She does this repeatedly until the eaglet learns to fly. Out of fear, the eaglet jumps back into the nest, with each attempt, shrieking and bleeding from the pricks in the nest. The mother doesn’t yield. There is a method to the madness. The process is repeated until the eagle eventually starts flapping its wings, getting stronger and stronger with each flap. Then — swoosh! Away it goes into the air, flying higher and higher

What is special about the eagle?

4. Because of their strength, eagles have been a symbol of war and imperial power since Babylonian times. Their likeness is found on Greek and Roman ruins, coins, and medals.

Eagles are monogamous. They mate for life and use the same nest each year.

5. They tend to nest in inaccessible places, incubating a small clutch of eggs for six to eight weeks. The young mature slowly, reaching adult plumage in the third or fourth year.

6. The Bald Eagle has been the national emblem of the United States since 1782 and a spiritual symbol for native people for far longer than that. These regal birds aren’t really bald, but their white-feathered heads gleam in contrast to their chocolate-brown body and wings. Look for them soaring in solitude, chasing other birds for their food, or gathering by the hundreds in winter. Once endangered by hunting and pesticides, Bald Eagles have flourished under protection.

7. Immature Bald Eagles spend the first four years of their lives in nomadic exploration of vast territories and can fly hundreds of miles per day. Some young birds from Florida have wandered north as far as Michigan, and birds from California have reached Alaska.

8. Bald Eagles can live a long time. The oldest recorded bird in the wild was at least 38 years old when it was hit and killed by a car in New York in 2015. It had been banded in the same state in 1977.

 By: Dr. Laurence Wedderburn July 20, 2024