Eagle Heart but Chicken Minded

So, I had a thought recently. A lot of us walk around as an Eagle at Heart but we’re chicken minded. Crazy right? How we are eager to get out there but only observe from the sidelines, we have no problem cheering other people into their destiny and even holding their hands to show them the way but we never venture to get our hands dirty because of various fears. Fear of the future, fear of failure or even fear of success. We stay grounded and wonder what it would be like to have the view from thousands of feet in the air; soaring into new heights and really tapping into our vision.

So what really is this whole concept about?

The Eagle has been noted as a representation of freedom, power, and transcendence. The bird is said to be the most vigilant of its kind and has the ability to spot prey from as far as 2 miles away. An eagle’s build is non-traditional, the bird is substantially bigger than its feathered counterparts and it’s wingspan specifically designed to accommodate flying at high altitudes. On the other hand, a chicken is noticeably smaller and hobbles around on earth scratching grain. The chicken is grounded and can only “fly” a few feet in the air, this bird is usually confined to its coop and has a routine especially if raised on a farm. The process is monotonous:  scratch grain, feed, lay eggs, become someone’s dinner.

The analogy here brings a few things into question. I’d often address the Eagle in my heart that wants to be free to soar but in what here comes gear raising its ugly head in what I’d call nano-seconds. Man, fear can be brutal! And I’ve felt the weight of how it just crept on me to cripple my wings and more or less confined me to my comfort zone a.k.a chicken coop – has that feeling ever been a reality for you?

My excerpt here does not seek to place emphasis on which bird is better or to disregard the role of either bird as both were created with specific roles, however, the principle of the mentalities is what is being brought into question.

Anthony De Mello shared the story below, let it sink in:

A man found an eagle’s egg and put it in a nest of a barnyard hen. The eaglet hatched with the brood of chicks and grew up with them.

All his life the eagle did what the barnyard chicks did, thinking he was a barnyard chicken. He scratched the earth for worms and insects. He clucked and cackled. And he would thrash his wings and fly a few feet into the air. 

Years passed and the eagle grew very old. One day he saw a magnificent bird above him in the cloudless sky. It glided in graceful majesty among the powerful wind currents, with scarcely a beat of its strong golden wings.

The old eagle looked up in awe. “Who’s that?” he asked.

“That’s the eagle, the king of the birds,” said his neighbor. “He belongs to the sky. We belong to the earth—we’re chickens.”

So the eagle lived and died a chicken, for that’s what he thought he was.

All our lives we have grown up in environments that practice certain norms, by process of adaptation and socialization we take on these characteristics and they have been ingrained into our psyche.

Think on this:

Each of us are born with an eagle heart but not all of us tap into the heart of the eagle. Each of us is born to soar but not all of us take flight. ” – Me 🙂

As we journey in pursuit of finding ourselves we can meet a vision that seems bigger than us – this is good! Intimidating but good! Shifting our paradigm from hobbling around aimlessly, to locking gaze on the goal can set us back in motion. Though passion brews in our hearts, we tend to shrink back and settle for a life of scratching grain or in other words taking whatever life throw at us, barely making it by with a “just enough to survive” attitude but aren’t you ready for change? The scratch grain mentality clouds our judgment and blocks us from seeing the real vision, it will lead us to think that where we are at is all that there is so there is no reason to attempt “flying the coop”. Can I tell you that, that mentality is a LIE.

Dear virtual best friend ( that’s you 🙂 ) Scratching for grain and settling for what is thrown at you on the earth is not the life you are destined to live – you were created to set your sights on opportunity within a 2-mile radius as the eagle does and dream BIG!

God – your creator intends for you to live a FULL purpose driven life soaring from glory to glory by His grace. Will there be time for landing and recuperating? Sure! But let me just say that we ought not to lose that hunger for higher heights nor become intimidated by taking the risk.

Make a deliberate effort today and start with the small areas in your life, then watch these stepping stones create pathways for your success.

I am confident that we’ve been born with an eagle heart! We just have to forsake the culture of our chicken laden environment, defy the norms of the coop, and move by faith toward to horizon!

You were meant to soar,🦅 so fly on!

shaQ 💜

Where is your eagle heart taking you to next?