Pastor's Column

While riding through a lusciously green countryside one Sunday morning, I observed several different hawks enjoying their high-in-the-sky flight. The wind was ferocious, yet each hawk was gliding through the cloudless heavens. Meanwhile, much tinier birds were also flying by, flapping their wings with frenzied might, buffeted by the winds as they fought to push forward. But there were the hawks, not flapping or frenzied, but with wings gloriously out-stretched, gliding and soaring, gracefully dipping and diving, letting the wind do the work while riding the air streams wherever they took them, with seemingly no effort at all.

Oh, to be the hawks! Too often, we are the tiny birds, flapping like crazy, just trying to get ahead, and fighting through life’s unpredictable gusts on our own strength. What would it be like to do life like the hawk?

Isaiah. 40:31 CSB gives us a clue when he proclaims, “But those who trust in the Lord will renew their strength; they will soar on wings like eagles (or hawks); they will run and not grow weary; they will walk and not faint”. The world coaches that if you flap your wings like crazy, strive to work as hard as you can and keep fighting to move forward on your own power, you’ll surely succeed! Yet, is that what the Lord is sharing through Isaiah?

Let’s look again at Isaiah’s clues! The verse begins, “But those who trust in the Lord will…” So, we can infer that the basis for the gliding life comes in trusting the Lord! When we trust in the Lord, our strength will be renewed, and we will rise up and soar on wings like eagles! It doesn’t say there won’t be ferocious, gusting winds in life, but that when we trust in the Lord and not in our own flapping efforts, we’ll be enabled to soar through them, not growing weary or faint, not giving up or giving in.

Prayer: Lord, please help me quit flapping on my own power, and, instead, help me spread my wings as I trust in you! I choose to let you do the lifting and leading as I glide and soar, dip and dive, through the gusts of life, so that as the winds die down, I am renewed and strengthened through your unlimited power. I offer my prayer in Jesus’ name. Amen.

This piece is from “Victorious Vibes”, by Pastor Nancy Jensen