Excerpt

Leave Your Comfort Zone and You May Learn to Fly

I have heard that the mother eagle builds her nest in layers. The first layer of the nest is built with blunt, sharp, painful objects such as thorns, twigs, and small pieces of glass. Who would suspect such harsh activity from a loving mother? Then she disguises this layer with a second layer built with soft, feathery objects. She may find old pieces of tissue, cloth, or fine, downy feathers to pad the nest.

Resting on this protective padding, the baby eagles first experience in the nest is one of comfort, of being nourished, fed, and at ease. But when the time comes for the babies to get ready to venture out on their own, the mother starts to stir up the nest by removing some of the protective padding. When faced with sleeping on twigs, thorns and other sharp objects, the nest doesnt feel like the soft, comfortable place it once was. In an effort to escape the feeling of discomfort, the young eagles make their way to the edge of the nest where they take a fall for their first flying lesson.

The young ones dont fall too far, however, until mamma comes and swoops them up on her wings and carries them back to a place of safety until its time for their next attempt to fly. If it wasnt for the mother eagle stirring up the nest, these babies may never spread their wings and take to flight.

We all have a special nesting place where we are comfortable. It may be a place of physical comfort or emotional comfort. Then there comes a point in time when something occurs and we dont feel quite so comfortable there anymore. When this happens, it may be God stirring up our nest to let us know its time to leave that nesting place and spread our wings and fly into a new adventure in life, something better for us that we might have never tried had we not been forced to leave our comfort zone.

Over the years, I can recall many times that I have had to leave my comfort zone. Each time, I reaped something much greater in return. But it wasnt always easy to do.

I dont think God intends for us to ever become comfortable. I can feel the prickling prods as God stirs me to spread my wings and fly again. To gain the confidence to take flight again, I will recall some of the steps Ive taken in the past. They are the things that define and measure our confidence level.

If youre feeling that place of discomfort, but arent sure you have the confidence to succeed, take a review of Gods ideas along with me and start spreading your wings. Lets get ready to take flight!