Eagles have always fascinated me - especially the American eagle. There are over 100 species of eagles, but because our National Emblem has been the American eagle since 1782, it's had more "face time" within the classroom. it's not on the endangered list since June of this year.
Every state in our Union has eagles except Hawaii, so people are constantly reporting "eagle sightings". The American eagle (Haliaeetus leucocephalus) may be a member of the ocean and osprey group, once it mates, it mates for life! That's right: no trickery within the American eagle world!
Mama Eagle lays from one to 3 eggs and therefore the pair share the 35 days of incubation. (No deadbeat fathers here!) The nesting cycle is about 20 weeks.
The female American eagle is 35 to 37 inches, slightly larger than the male, and features a wingspan of 72 to 90 inches. She flies at altitudes of 10,000 feet, and through level flight, she will achieve speeds of about 30 to 35 mph. She weighs only 10-14 lbs, and her bones are light because they're hollow. She is understood for exceptional eyesight at far distances.
The most fascinating fact, I think, is that the eagle has the power to regulate her body out of joint so as the ride the storm. Wow! What a lesson we humans can deduct from that!
The eagle waits for a draft and rides it - no struggle, no wing-flapping! It's kind of an "atmosphere of grace" almost like the Christian who "waits upon the Lord" and has less wing-flapping, less struggle. The eagle is certainly a "storm rider"!
As mothers go, the American eagle is that the best metaphor for human parenting and parenting by Father God that I can consider . Since the surface of the nest is formed with sharp materials to face up to invasion from intruders, she and her mate lined the within with fur from their prey. They made an enormous old feather bed!
When the time comes for those little ones to go away the nest and begin fending for themselves - somewhere around 4 years aged -- Mama Eagle starts pulling the soft material out of the nest to form it uncomfortable for them. Seems to mean, but it's necessary to motivate the babies.
Then Mama Eagle starts pushing the babies towards the sting of the nest, ignoring their screams. because the babies flap their wings, they're strengthening them without knowing it. Eventually, she pushes them out of the nest, one by one. As each eaglet free-falls, screaming and squawking, Mama Eagle flies under him, spreading her massive 90-inch wingspan, and catches him before he hits the ground.
Mama Eagle's eyes are never off of her baby! She swoops up her baby and takes him back thereto nest she and Daddy Eagle built out of touch from intruders. He's safe for the nonce. But tomorrow he'll get another flight lesson from Mama Eagle. and eventually, one day, he'll find out he can fly his own! (Probably when there is no more fur inside that thorn nest!)
God seems to parent me an equivalent way. There are times when He allows this wounded child to feel safe in His feather bed. Then He knows it is time on behalf of me to be forced out of my temperature. But always, His eye is on me and His protective wings are under me.
I actually felt Him lift me abreast of wings of eagles at my mother's funeral after she had been killed. it had been a visceral feeling, not just a spiritual one, and that I floated through the day with total peace. So I do know (experientially) the reality of this scripture.
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