Leave Your Comfort Zone and you may Learn to Fly
"But those
who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will
soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not be weary,
they will walk and not be faint." — Isaiah 40:31 (NIV)
I have heard that the mother eagle builds her nest in
layers. The first layer of the nest is built with blunt,
sharp, painful objects. This may include thorns, twigs, and
small pieces of glass. Who would have suspected this from a
loving mother? Then she disguises this layer with a second
layer built with soft, feathery objects. She may find old
pieces of tissue, cloth, or fine Downey feathers to pad the
nest for her unsuspecting young birds.
Resting on this protective padding, the baby eagles first
experience in the nest is one of comfort, where they are
nourished and fed. But when the time comes for the babies to
get ready to venture out on their own, the mother starts to
stir up the nest by removing some of the protective padding
from the second layer. When faced with sleeping on twigs,
thorns and other sharp objects, the nest doesn't feel like
the soft comfortable place it once was. In an effort to
escape the feeling of discomfort, the young eagles hop to
the edge of the nest where they take a fall for their first
flying lesson.
The young ones don't fall too far, however, until mamma
comes and swoops them up on her wings and carries them back
to a place of safety until it's time for their next attempt
to fly. If it weren't for the mother eagle stirring up the
nest, these babies may never spread their wings and take to
flight.
We all have a special nesting place where we are
comfortable. It may be a place of physical comfort or
emotional comfort — nonetheless, it is our comfort zone.
Then there comes a point in time when something occurs and
we don't feel quite so comfortable there anymore. When this
happens, it may be God stirring up our nest to let us know
it's time to leave that nesting place, and spread our wings
and fly into a new adventure in life; something better for
us, that we might have never tried had we not been forced to
leave our comfort zone.
Annettee Budzban