Eagle, Holy Spirit and you…

In New Zealand there are more flightless birds than anywhere on earth. Among them are the kiwi and the penguin. Scientists tell us that these birds had wings but lost them. They had no use for them. They had no natural predators on those beautiful islands, and food was plentiful. Since there was no reason to fly they didn’t. Through neglect they lost their wings. Compare them to the eaglet that somehow ended up in a chicken barnyard.

The eaglet was raised with the chickens, pecking at corn, and strutting around the chicken coop.

One day a mountain man, passing by, recognized the bird, now a fully grown eagle, and asked the farmer if he could work to rehabilitate it. The farmer said: Go ahead, but it’s useless. All that eagle knows is pecking corn like a chicken. The mountaineer began weeks of rigorous training with the eagle, forcing it to run after him so that it had to use its wings. Many times the eagle fell out of the limbs of trees onto its head.

But, one day, the mountaineer took the eagle to the top of a mountain and held it above his head on his wrist. Giving an upward thrust to his arm, he sent the eagle into the sky with a Fly! The eagle circled and wheeled upwards, straining, till it soon took off in a majestic sweep and looked directly into the sun. It was gone. It had regained its nature. It was an eagle once more.

If we compare this story to our lives and faith, who are we? After baptism and confirmation – what is our nature? Are we chickens waiting for death (chickens soup, KFC wings) or eagles, completely free and independent in this world because of Holy Spirit in us? Think about it, especially today in Pentecost day.