I heard someone say recently that a bird sitting on a branch does not trust that the branch won’t break. The bird’s trust lies in the strength of its own wings. The speaker was inferring we has humans need that same trust in ourselves.
I immediately resonated with that. And let’s be honest…some of the hard gusts of life often knock us right off our branch.
Birds make flying look effortless. But they too, had to learn to fly by practice. The little bird often starts by standing in their nest and flapping their wings, sometimes even lifting off the nest a few inches. Eventually, when it appears their wings are strong enough, the parents may stop feeding them which prompts the fledglings to leave the nest in order to forage for their own food.
If you are a parent of an older child, I’m sure you can relate.
The older, and hopefully wiser I get, I realize that all those hard things I’ve gone through are the practice I needed to help me develop stronger wings. And I admit there are times I wish I could go back to the nest and just hunker down to avoid the gusts. We all know life isn’t always easy, carefree and fun. And people aren’t always kind, caring or even safe.
Really, though, all of life is a series of lessons in flying. The ups and downs of our daily lives provide continued opportunities to test and strengthen our wings.
And if we’ve practiced and learned to trust that strength…we’ll soar.
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