The Eagle Has Landed

“But those who trust the Lord will find new strength. They will be strong like eagles soaring upward on wings; they will walk and run without getting tired.” [i]

The habits of eagles can teach us a great deal about life. Here are seven lessons. Eagles fly alone at high altitude, and not with sparrows or ravens.[ii] No other bird can get to the height of the eagle. No one (but you and God) can do the hard work that is needed in your life.[iii]

Eagles have strong vision. They have the ability to focus on something up to 3.10686 miles away. When an eagle sites his prey, he narrows his focus on it. He sets out to get it no matter the obstacles. The eagle will not move his focus from the prey until he grabs it. Have a vision and remain focused no matter what the obstacle and you will succeed.

Eagles do not eat dead things. They feed only on fresh prey. (Vultures eat dead animals, but eagles will not.) Be careful with what you feed your eyes and ears with (especially in movies and on TV).

“Eagles come in all shapes and sizes, but you will recognize them chiefly by their attitudes.” [iv]      

Eagles love the storm. The eagle uses the storm’s wind to lift it higher. The eagle uses the raging storm to lift him above the clouds. This gives the eagle an opportunity to glide, and rest its wings. (All other birds hide in the leaves and branches of the trees.) We can use the storms of life to rise to greater heights.

The eagle tests before it trusts. When a female eagle meets a male and they want to mate; she flies down to earth with the male pursuing her and she picks a twig. Once she has reaches a height high enough for her, she lets the twig fall to the ground. The male chases after the twig. He has to catch it before it falls to the ground, and bring it back to the female.

This test goes on for hours at higher heights until the female is assured that the male eagle has mastered the art of catching the twig. This shows commitment as her chosen mate. In life, one should test the commitment of people intended as marital partners.

When the female is ready to lay eggs, both eagles identify a place very high on a cliff where no predators can reach. The male flies to earth and picks thorns and lays them on the crevice of the cliff. He then flies to collect twigs, thorns, soft grass which he lays in the intended nest. When this first layering is complete, the male eagle does the process again.

Both male and female eagles participate in raising the eagle family. She lays the eggs, and protects them. He builds the nest and hunts. During the time of training the young ones to fly, the mother eagle throws the eaglets out of the nest multiple times. She takes off the soft layers of the nest, which leaves the thorns bare.

When the scared eaglets again jump into the nest, they are pricked by thorns. Shrieking and bleeding, they jump out again this time wondering why their loving parents would torture them like this. Next, the mother eagle pushes them off the cliff into the air. As they shriek in fear, father eagle flies out.

He catches them up on his back before they fall, and brings them back to the cliff. This goes on for awhile before they start flapping their wings. They get excited that they can fly.

The preparation of the nest teaches us to get ready for changes. The uniting of the family teaches us that active contribution by both partners leads to success.[v]

Being pricked by the thorns of life tells us that sometimes being too comfortable where we are may result in not progressing through what we need to know to grow. Those who love us do not let us pine away in laziness, but push us hard to grow and prosper.

“A friend is like an eagle; you don’t find them flying in flocks.” [vi]    

When an eagle grows old and his feathers become weak. They cannot take him as fast as he should. When he is about to die, the eagle retires to a place far away in the rocks. While there, he plucks out every feather on his body until he is completely bare. He stays in this hiding place until he has grown new feathers, and can come out. We occasionally need to shed off old habits that burden us.[vii]

“There is an eagle in me that [desires] to soar, and [then] there is a hippopotamus in me that wants to wallow in the mud.”  [viii] 

This post is dedicated to my Grandma Eagle (on right at Thanksgiving 2016 with my sister, Kim)

The inspiration, my shirt
 

 

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[i] Isaiah 40:31(CEV)

 

[ii] The wingspan of an adult bald eagle is 6 to 8 feet. A bald eagle's body is 34 to 43 inches and it weighs 6.5 to 14 pounds. Bald eagle’s wings are biologically design to take advantage of convection currents in the air. Their wings feature miniature gaps at the ends.

 The gaps act as navigational tools that the eagle can use to better maneuver during flight. Feathers fill the gaps, adding control and warmth. Their skeletal structure is a key component to their level of control during flight.
 

Bald eagles usually mate for life and a pair of them constructs one of the largest stick nests in the bird-world to raise their offspring. Bald eagles are found in every state except Hawaii.

They are mostly found in Alaska and Canada, where there are large amounts of undisturbed habitats. The greatest concentration of nesting bald eagles in the lower 48 states is in Florida. (www.reference.com)

 

 

[iii] At 4:18 p.m. on July 20, 1969, Neil Armstrong's voice crackled from the speakers at NASA's Mission Control in Houston, TX. He said simply, "the Eagle has landed." The Urban Dictionary defines it as “mission completed.”

 

[iv] Quote by E. F. Schumacher

 

[v] This article was sought out because of the shirt below that I own. This post is dedicated to my maternal grandmother, Erma Eagle, who is over one hundred years old.

 

[vi] Quote by Anonymous

 

[vii] Adapted from the article, “7 Principles of an Eagle” by Dr. Myles Monroe (and Kwee Lain)

 

 

[viii] Quote by Carl Sandburg