Walking Like a Turkey

“He satisfies you with good things; your youth is renewed like the eagle.” Psalm 103:5

The eagle is the most majestic bird in the sky, but in the life of every eagle, they will go through a molting process that can bring with it a great depression. This is a wilderness time that all eagles will face. During this great depression the eagle will walk like a turkey being too weak to fly. The molting eagle finds himself in the valley with its feathers falling out. They lose their ability to see, as their vision weakens during this time. When the molting eagle gets in this last state, if they don't renew, they will die. At this time, they will choose some area of a mountain range where the sun can shine directly on them, and they will lie on a rock and bathe in the sun. www.hopeinhull.com.

I couldn’t help but to consider our Christian lives when reading about this process in my Bible study. If you have been on this earth for any length of time you completely understand that we each have feathers that weigh us down. The difference between me and an eagle is that I have found myself in the wilderness more times than once. There have been times when I have ‘walked like a turkey’ instead of soaring like an eagle. God didn’t place this comparison in His word without an intentional call to get rid of our weighty feathers. Just as the eagle’s feathers get covered with dirt and oil over time, so do the attitudes of our heart. We cannot fly because of the feather of bitterness and unforgiveness. The feathers of grief keep us weak and distort our vision of a joyful future. Multiple feathers weigh us down with worry…guilt…fear.

There comes a time in every believer’s life when God reminds us that we were meant to soar, but we must lose those feathers that are keeping us in the wilderness. Like the eagle, it is imperative that we choose an area where the Son can shine directly on us…where we lie in quietness before Him…and bathe in His word. We must cling tight to the feathers that will help us return to flight. The feather of gratitude…the feather of faith…the feather of fellowship… the feather of hope. These are the lovelies that God places in our lives to sustain us during the challenging times. These are the feathers that God never meant us to discard. They are the 'good things' that God used to satisfy us while waiting on our flight.

When we have been renewed through the gentle touch of God we will once again have a desire to mount up with new energy, to soar among the heavens, and to enjoy our new perspective. Don’t despise the molting process. It is what moves people from turkeys to eagles!