{"id":378,"date":"2021-01-13T17:09:03","date_gmt":"2021-01-13T17:09:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/calvinlangton.com\/?p=378"},"modified":"2021-01-13T17:09:03","modified_gmt":"2021-01-13T17:09:03","slug":"broken-eagle","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/calvinlangton.com\/?p=378","title":{"rendered":"BROKEN EAGLE"},"content":{"rendered":"

BROKEN EAGLE<\/b><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

I was recently at a Raptor Rescue Center. They had a number of birds.\u00a0\u00a0A Screech Owl was part of one demonstration.\u00a0 I had heard a lot of Screech Owls but I had never seen one to know what I was seeing. Amazing, the sounds that can come from such a small body.\u00a0 Interesting bird.\u00a0It seemed as if it could turn its head all the way around on its body.\u00a0 The lecturer told us about its life in the wild.\u00a0\u00a0The stealthy way it flies, it\u2019s night vision – remarkable!\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

There was also a Bald Eagle.\u00a0\u00a0It was a large beautiful bird.\u00a0\u00a0Magnificent.\u00a0\u00a0Awe inspiring.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span>Something I often see soaring high in the sky or hurling down on unsuspecting\u00a0prey near our home.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Neither of these birds could fly!\u00a0\u00a0They had been brought to the center because of injuries that permanently took away their ability to fly.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

The Eagle was enclosed in a pen.\u00a0\u00a0He walked around the pen pecking at the ground much as a chicken would. It was sad.\u00a0\u00a0An animal created to soar, pecking on the ground.\u00a0\u00a0Of course, he was alive. Saved by the workers. But it was not the life he was created to live.\u00a0 At times he would flutter and struggle up to a perch they had for him. He looked much more regal there than on the ground but he still could not soar.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

I wondered what happened to him. Something he did to himself? Something someone did to him intentionally? Just an accident? Whatever the reason he was stuck on the ground. A far different life than he had been created to live. I think the lecturer said something about pulling him out of a truck grill.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>He reminds me of a lot of us.\u00a0\u00a0Created by God to live life in His image.\u00a0\u00a0Created to reflect Him to His creation. But we are crippled by our own bad choices. Our mistakes. By the way we have been treated by others. By life itself. By sin in us and others.\u00a0 By trucks we didn\u2019t see coming.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>Occasionally a shadow passes over us and we look up and see someone else soaring in the sky, while\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/span>we\u00a0continue\u00a0pecking\u00a0in the dust\u00a0wondering if\u00a0that is what we were created for\u00a0while longing for the sky.\u00a0 Regretting\u00a0what could have been.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

But as I reflected on the Soaring Eagle and the Broken Eagle, which one should be admired? The Soaring Eagle does what he was created to do. He does what Eagles do. Soar. He catches our eye. Effortlessly claims our attention.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>The Broken Eagle is a different thing altogether. He catches our eye because of what he cannot do. Even in captivity life is a struggle. Climbing up to the perch where he could rest and survey his limited \u201cworld\u201d was a struggle. Skills that did not come naturally, but that he had to learn came into play. There was nothing about his life that came easy. Life was a struggle! Life was hard! Life was difficult! But in some way, you feel the Broken Eagle had conquered or at least came peace with his world.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>As you go through life you will meet people who immediately attract your attention. They seem to soar. They seem to have life under control.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

There are others who are broken. They struggle to do the mundane things in life. Often, they fail or do them differently. They are overlooked. Take another look. They often have much to admire.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

If they are sitting on a limb looking regal, they may have had a tremendous struggle just getting there.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Which one should be admired? <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

BOTH. Each is living in the environment they have been \u201cgiven\u201d. Each is living at the upper borders of their abilities. Soar if you can soar. But live life as fully as you can in your circumstances.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Which are you?<\/p>\n

I can identify much more with the Broken Eagle than the Soaring Eagle<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

BROKEN EAGLE I was recently at a Raptor Rescue Center. They had a number of birds.\u00a0\u00a0A Screech Owl was part of one demonstration.\u00a0 I had heard a lot of Screech Owls but I had never seen one to know what I was seeing. Amazing, the sounds that can come from such a small body.\u00a0 Interesting […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ocean_front_end_style_editor":"no","ocean_post_layout":"","ocean_both_sidebars_style":"","ocean_both_sidebars_content_width":0,"ocean_both_sidebars_sidebars_width":0,"ocean_sidebar":"0","ocean_second_sidebar":"0","ocean_disable_margins":"enable","ocean_add_body_class":"","ocean_shortcode_before_top_bar":"","ocean_shortcode_after_top_bar":"","ocean_shortcode_before_header":"","ocean_shortcode_after_header":"","ocean_has_shortcode":"","ocean_shortcode_after_title":"","ocean_shortcode_before_footer_widgets":"","ocean_shortcode_after_footer_widgets":"","ocean_shortcode_before_footer_bottom":"","ocean_shortcode_after_footer_bottom":"","ocean_display_top_bar":"default","ocean_display_header":"default","ocean_header_style":"","ocean_center_header_left_menu":"0","ocean_custom_header_template":"0","ocean_custom_logo":0,"ocean_custom_retina_logo":0,"ocean_custom_logo_max_width":0,"ocean_custom_logo_tablet_max_width":0,"ocean_custom_logo_mobile_max_width":0,"ocean_custom_logo_max_height":0,"ocean_custom_logo_tablet_max_height":0,"ocean_custom_logo_mobile_max_height":0,"ocean_header_custom_menu":"0","ocean_menu_typo_font_family":"0","ocean_menu_typo_font_subset":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_size":0,"ocean_menu_typo_font_size_tablet":0,"ocean_menu_typo_font_size_mobile":0,"ocean_menu_typo_font_size_unit":"px","ocean_menu_typo_font_weight":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_weight_tablet":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_weight_mobile":"","ocean_menu_typo_transform":"","ocean_menu_typo_transform_tablet":"","ocean_menu_typo_transform_mobile":"","ocean_menu_typo_line_height":0,"ocean_menu_typo_line_height_tablet":0,"ocean_menu_typo_line_height_mobile":0,"ocean_menu_typo_line_height_unit":"","ocean_menu_typo_spacing":0,"ocean_menu_typo_spacing_tablet":0,"ocean_menu_typo_spacing_mobile":0,"ocean_menu_typo_spacing_unit":"","ocean_menu_link_color":"","ocean_menu_link_color_hover":"","ocean_menu_link_color_active":"","ocean_menu_link_background":"","ocean_menu_link_hover_background":"","ocean_menu_link_active_background":"","ocean_menu_social_links_bg":"","ocean_menu_social_hover_links_bg":"","ocean_menu_social_links_color":"","ocean_menu_social_hover_links_color":"","ocean_disable_title":"default","ocean_disable_heading":"default","ocean_post_title":"","ocean_post_subheading":"","ocean_post_title_style":"","ocean_post_title_background_color":"","ocean_post_title_background":0,"ocean_post_title_bg_image_position":"","ocean_post_title_bg_image_attachment":"","ocean_post_title_bg_image_repeat":"","ocean_post_title_bg_image_size":"","ocean_post_title_height":0,"ocean_post_title_bg_overlay":0.5,"ocean_post_title_bg_overlay_color":"","ocean_disable_breadcrumbs":"default","ocean_breadcrumbs_color":"","ocean_breadcrumbs_separator_color":"","ocean_breadcrumbs_links_color":"","ocean_breadcrumbs_links_hover_color":"","ocean_display_footer_widgets":"default","ocean_display_footer_bottom":"default","ocean_custom_footer_template":"0","ocean_post_oembed":"","ocean_post_self_hosted_media":"","ocean_post_video_embed":"","ocean_link_format":"","ocean_link_format_target":"self","ocean_quote_format":"","ocean_quote_format_link":"post","ocean_gallery_link_images":"off","ocean_gallery_id":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-378","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/calvinlangton.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/378","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/calvinlangton.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/calvinlangton.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/calvinlangton.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/calvinlangton.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=378"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/calvinlangton.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/378\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":379,"href":"https:\/\/calvinlangton.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/378\/revisions\/379"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/calvinlangton.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=378"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/calvinlangton.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=378"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/calvinlangton.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=378"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}