Spread your wings and leave the nest

"But those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not be weary; they will walk and not be faint."

-Isaiah 43:31 (NIV)

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. This may include thorns, twigs and small pieces of glass. Who would have suspected this from a loving mother?

She then disguises this layer with a second one built with soft, feathery objects. She may find old pieces of tissue, cloth or fine, downy feathers to pad the nest for her young birds.

Resting on this protective padding, the baby eagle's first experience in the nest is one of comfort, where they are nourished and fed.

But when the time comes for 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 from the second layer.

When faced with sleeping on twigs, thorns and other sharp objects, the nest doesn't feel like the soft, comfortable place it once was. In an effort to escape the feeling of discomfort, the young eagles hop to the edge of the nest, where they take a fall for their first flying lesson.

The young ones don't fall too far, however. The mama swoops them up on her wings and carries them back to a place of safety until it's time for their next attempt to fly.

If it weren't for the mother eagle stirring up her 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 or emotional comfort; nonetheless, it is our comfort zone. Then there comes a point in time when something occurs and we don't feel quite so comfortable there anymore.

When this happens, it may be God stirring up our nest to let us know it's time to leave that place and spread our wings and fly into a new adventure; something better for us that we might have never tried had we not been forced to leave our comfort zone.

• Annettee Budzban is a Christian author, speaker, life coach and nurse. She can be contacted at annetteebudzban@aol.com or (847) 543-8413.