The sky is blue with translucent clouds occasionally passing over the Alaskan sun. It might be seventy degrees with a slight breeze that tickles the birch. The leaves revel and sing in the glory of this day. I am sitting at a picnic table watching my children play as I wait to get my oil changed. I am eating those Japanese crackers; you know the ones that taste like old fish and seaweed? There four construction workers here eating lunch. They seem to be very nice men and none of their conversation is inappropriate.
I hear a bird squawking, but I do not pay it any mind. My four year old son says, “Mom, look. It’s a bald eagle”. I look up thinking that it’s probably just one of the highly annoying ravens that seem to survive here in Alaska through -60 degree winters just fine. He was right. Now, it’s not surprising to see a bald eagle in Alaska, but it’s still amazing just the same. The eagle was flying in a circular motion. There was this bird, probably ten times smaller, making pitiful attempts to get the eagle to release whatever it had in its mighty talons. Whatever this magnificent eagle had that belonged to the bird (probably one of her chicks) was most precious and size no longer mattered. For two or three minutes, this bird kept attacking and squawking at the eagle to no avail. Finally, the eagle flew away and she was left there to defend an empty nest. It amazed me that she was so tiny, yet she had so much fight in her. We think of eagles to be beautiful, majestic and honorable. After all, it is our country’s mascot. The reality is that eagles are scavengers, thieves, and dumpster divers (not that there’s anything wrong with that). They are survivors. No, they are not survivors. They are conquerors. They have come back from the brink of extinction. We are more than survivors. I am more than a survivor. If I believe what God sees, I am more than a conqueror; MORE than a conqueror. If I love my child so much that I want him to be happy and give him all he needs and even wants, how much more does God love me? I cannot love in the same capacity that God can. It is unfathomable. So… LIVE. Now. Go. Do it. Live for God and know that God is taking pleasure in watching His children LIVE for Him.
07/11/08
