AN EAGLE AND A CHICKEN

I heard a story about an eagle and a chicken. An eagle’s egg gets mixed up with that of a hen. The hen hatches its eggs including the eagle. The the chicks are born, so is the eaglet.

The chicks are soft and beautiful to look at. The eaglet is rough, dark and not so pleasant to look at in comparison with the chicks. The eaglet feels down every time it looks at the beautiful chicken. The chicken themselves tease the eaglet, and call ‘ugly’ and by all names. The ‘ugly’ eaglet is all the more disheartened.

As they begin to grow, the chicks enjoy eating in the dirt. The eaglet not only dislikes, but is having tough time adjusting to the food and the life. As the days pass by, the chicks have become chicken, and the eaglet an eagle.

The taunts of the young chicken grow by the day. They roost, while the eagle makes a shrill and squeaking noise. The chicken have colourful feathers, while the young eagle looks dark and shabby in comparison.

One day, the eagle looks up and sees another eagle. He sees it flying. He sees it soaring high in the clouds. He wondered how is it possible. “How is that bird able to do it, while he is walking on the ground?” was the question that troubled the young eagle. He too wanted to fly. Then he tells himself, “Let me try and fly like that bird which looks like me.”

The story ends with the young eagle finding its wings, and soaring high and above. The rough and ‘ugly’ eagle found its true identity.  The young eagle broke free from the circumstances it was thrown into, and became what it was originally designed for.

Many times, we Christians behave like the chicken, when we are supposed to soar like an eagle. The eagle and the chicken can’t change their positions, but not so with us. We can choose what we want to be, regardless of  what we are born into, and how we are today. This is possible because of the grace of God.

The LORD rescued us with a purpose. The resources of heaven are at our disposal. Seek the LORD, and He will guide us to what we were meant to be. Serve the LORD and His purposes joyfully and intentionally. The kingdom of God needs us.