Once upon a time there was a baby eagle called Eddie. Eddie had entered this world by violently forcing his way out of an eggshell, to discover himself sharing a nest with his brothers and sisters at the top of a very tall tree. One day a strong wind blew up, and the nest was rocked wildly from side to side, at one point rocking so far that poor little Eddie was tipped out. Not yet old enough t fly down he fell, down, down through the branches, and amazingly right down into a rabbit burrow at the base of the tree. When he got to his feet Eddie found himself among a group of bunnies born around the same time as he.
Now rabbits may be good breeders, but they’re not exceptionally smart, so no one realised Eddie was in fact a baby eagle. They all assume dhe was just an odd-looking rabbit. So Eddie was adopted into the family and grew up learning to live as a rabbit. He hopped and jumped, lived in the family burrow and lived on a diet of grass and lettuce.
Of course, all his life Eddie struggled with a sense of terrible inferiority. He didn’t look like the other rabbits, he was always the last one chosen when it came to hopping games, and he was often sick from eating grass.
Then one day his life changed. Eddie and his rabbit siblings were out in a field playing, when a dark shadow spread across the ground. The rabbits looked up and there hurtling towards them was a mighty eagle. With squeals of fear the rabbits ran as fast as they could for the undergrowth. Eddie knew he was a goner. He couldn’t run as fast as the others and saw them all reach safety while he was still hopping like crazy out in the open. The mighty eagle drew closer and closer, until Eddie could feel its shadow right above him. Eddie braced himself for the inevitable when he heard the eagle cry, “What are you doing hopping around on the ground like a rabbit?! You’re an eagle. Spread your wings and fly!”
Startled by the shock of what had happened, confused by the eagles words, Eddie started to move those useless things at his side. He stretched them out and began flapping until he found himself lifting up from the ground, then soaring effortlessly through the heavens. That day Eddie discovered he wasn’t made to hop along the ground but to soar through the skies.
The same is true of us. God created us with enormous dignity and honour, to be his image on earth. We grow up in societies that tell us that we are something other than magnificent creatures made to image God, but when we discover our true nature, we are able to soar through the skies, becoming everything we were created to be.
Source: Scott Higgins