Traits of an Eagle
My wife was reading a "chick" book. The book was about a family coming apart. The husband and wife had gradually grown apart, each too busy to give back to the marriage, each beginning to assume the other didn't love them. Lazily, they let it drift and real damage started to occur. Enough drifting and our eyes begin to look to other places where we can be accepted and understood. The man in this book began to have feelings for a younger woman and that relationship began to snowball. While he had never consumated the affair physically, he had emotionally. Word began to spread. Soon, the wife "knew" he was engaged in a full-blown affair and the two decided to split. However, their oldest daughter was getting married and they decided to postpone any split (or any word of a split) until after the wedding.

His son was doing a school report on eagles and kept encouraging his Dad to read the report. The Dad was disengaged from his son and kept putting off reading the report. Soon he was confronted with a challenge. The other woman offered herself to him "anytime, anywhere you are ready". With his wife off on a camping trip with the bride to be, the husband sat looking at the phone about ready to call the girlfriend. The phone rang and it was his daughter and he was distracted. When he hung up, he picked up his son's school report sitting there by the phone and read about eagles.

Eagles, it seems have only 2 enemies - storms and serpents. Eagles have learned not to fight a storm but rather to "go with it" wherever it takes them. Once the storm has passed, the eagle can fly home and begin to rebuild his nest. Serpents are a challenge because they prey on the eagle's young and can quickly destroy the home.

Eagles also "marry" only once. They pick one mate and keep that mate for life. Also, if they injest something that makes them sick, an eagle will fly to find a rock and will sit on the rock with his wings spread out to let the sun soak/burn out the poisons in his system.

The father in this story dropped the paper after reading it and called the girlfriend to end their relationship. It seems God spoke to him through his son's writing. He had let a serpent into the nest and it was destroying his home. He had injested a poison and was in need of letting the "Son" burn it out of him. He realized that his wife was his only wife and knew he needed to make things right or die trying.

Of course the story ends with a full reconciliation (hey, after all it was a chick book) but it has real meaning for the lives of men reading this blog.

Have you let a serpent into your life? How's your relationship with your wife? How's your heart? Do you need some time alone with the "Son" to soak out the poisons in your life? I know I do.

Soar.