I’m about four weeks into an empty house… One college graduate out in the workforce and two college students more than a ten-hour drive from home. How am I doing? How are they doing?
I have a little more time on my hands, I’ve gotten into new hobbies and new adventures, but of course, I always miss my children.
While working the left door at church, I’ve had quite a few discussions about being an “empty nester.” When working the left door, I like to think that “my side” of the sanctuary is more occupied than the others. It is a bit vain and I shouldn’t think that… but statistically speaking it is a fact.
It could be because my door is closer to the nursery, the coffee or easy access to sneak in when you are late. I will just go on thinking folks like to see and talk to me on their way into church.
A nice lady who was sort of a “relief pitcher” with me the other Sunday shared a little book with me that I found very interesting. She was relief pitching or helping me pass out bulletins because my normal door partner had gone camping.
The little book talked about how we should “Be like Eagles.” The part she wanted me to read had to do with being an “Eagle Parent.”
The bottom line was that when an Eagle Mama knows she is going to have eagle babies, she starts lining the nest with grass, vines, leaves, fur and down. The Eagle Daddy goes out and brings back toys and trinkets for the babies. In other words, they are preparing a nursery and collecting rattles and those spinning things that you hang over babies in their cribs.
After they are born, their eagle parents feed and nurture them, while the eagle babies lie around sleeping in the soft down and fur lined nest (kind of like a teenaged boy sleeping on the sofa). The eagle babies get used to this and the Mama Eagle starts to notice after a while (a lot less than 18 years).
When the Eagle Mama knows that it is “time,” she starts removing all the soft stuff from the nest and throwing the toys and trinkets over the side and out of the nest. In other words, she’s removing the comforts.
The baby eagles cry and whine and probably say, “That’s not fair.” You see, now the baby eagles are being poked and prodded by sharp sticks and twigs in the nest. If that wasn’t enough, the Eagle Mama finally comes into the nest one day and starts flapping her wings and making a ruckus pushing the eagle babies toward the front of the nest. I’m pretty sure the baby eagles are screaming, “Mama, please don’t make me jump. We love you. We’ll pick our room and make our bed.”
That Eagle Mama goes ahead and pushes her babies out and they fall because they don’t how to fly yet… But the Eagle Daddy is standing by waiting to swoop down and catch the babies right before they hit the ground. If the Eagle Mama didn’t love them, she would have pushed them out altogether, rather than one at a time. The Eagle Daddy is good, but probably not good enough to be catching multiple falling babies.
And as you would imagine, the Eagle Mama and Daddy keep this routine going until those baby eagles learn to fly. That’s what it’s all about – learning to fly.
What am I doing to pass my time? I’m trying to do without a lot of things (other than my children). I’ve sworn off sugar and the NFL for a while. I’ll go back to sugar, but I’m not so sure about professional football.
College football? I don’t miss a game if I can help it. I watch every possible game I can and just love spending my Saturdays flipping channels enjoying teams from all across the country.
After those long Saturdays, I feel like I need to rest… Therefore on Sundays, I think about eagles y’all.
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Cranks My Tractor
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I'm BN Heard and I like semicolons, dogs and working the left door at church four months out of the year.
The Booklet I was reading was written by Pastor Dick Woodward, founder of the Mini Bible College. His wisdom made a difference in the lives of many people. Pastor Woodward passed away in 2014.
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