Lessons from the Decorah Eagles: Beautiful Feet

Eagle's Feet

by Marsha Iddings

 Romans 10:15 And how shall they preach unless they are sent? As it is written: "How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the gospel of peace, Who bring glad tidings of good things!"

Eagles are equipped with very special feet. They have three front toes and one back toe and each toe has very long claws called talons.  The purpose of these feet are two-fold. 

1. They catch their prey with their talons
2. They use their talons to carry their prey and nesting materials

An eagle can carry as much as 8 pounds in its talons.  Eagles themselves weigh  8 to 15 pounds. The females are the heavier ones.  They are very strong birds.  Eagle's feet are beautiful to them because an eagle with an injured foot is not able to capture prey and will starve.

Scripture talks about the feet of those who preach the the gospel of peace and good tidings.  Their feet are beautiful feet. The gospel of peace is the good news of Christ's work on the cross to pay the debt for our sin so we can have peace with God.  God must punish sinners and because of what Christ did by taking our punishment, He satisfied God's justice against us. This is indeed the gospel of peace and tidings of good news!  Are your feet beautiful?

Lessons from the Decorah Eagles: Mantling

Mantling 

by Marsha Iddings

Proverbs 15:16  Better is a little with the fear of the LORD, Than great treasure with trouble.

The juvenile eagles are almost as big as their parents now.  They have a wing span of almost five feet across and spend much time flapping their wings and hopping from one side of the nest to the other in preparation for the day when they will branch and then later fledge. 

They have been learning the art of being aggressive and snatching  food when a parent comes in with a food drop.  When one is lucky enough to grab the whole meal he/she will mantle the treasure by spreading their wings around the prey in order to keep the others from seeing and getting what they have.  You can see an eaglet mantling in the photo above.

Of course when one refuses to share, then the others will begin to think of ways to steal the food and they wait in anticipation of the first chance to grab it. Take a look at the other two eaglets. You can almost see their wheels turning as they try to figure out how they will get the food away from their sibling. There is often trouble that comes with great treasure.

The old adage, "Little is much when God is in it" is very true.  It's better to be content with little knowing God will provide then deal with the troubles that come with great treasure.

Lessons from the Decorah Eagles: Wing Exercises

Exercise

by Marsha Iddings

 1Timothy 4:7 ...exercise yourself toward godliness. 

1Timothy 4:8 For bodily exercise profits a little, but godliness is profitable for all things, having promise of the life that now is and of that which is to come.

(NKJV)

Here we see two pictures.  One is one of the eagles at a very young age and the other is possibly the same eagle grown up quite a bit.  The baby was not able to fly yet in either of these photos.  In fact, the very young eagle may have just discovered his wings!  We saw some really humorous wing displays at the very young stage.

In this picture the juvenile eagles are almost as big as the parents, and almost ready to fly but not quite.  They would flap their wings and bounce up and down on the nest in the wind like they are on a trampoline.  One day they  managed to "fly" a few feet from the nest and perch on the tree limb near their parents. This is called branching.

Before they could branch they had to exercise their wings with lots of flapping and hopping around so they would be strong enough when the time came to leave the nest.

The Bible tells us bodily exercise profits our bodies a little.  It is good to exercise and keep physically fit.  But we are told that it is far more important to exercise ourselves toward godliness.  The young eagles exercise themselves toward the goal of becoming independent and leaving the nest one day.  We are to exercise ourselves toward the goal of becoming a godly people, pleasing to God.  We exercise our spiritual wings by studying the Bible daily to learn what His will is for us and then doing it.  

Lessons from the Decorah Eagles: Two Shall Be One

Two Shall Be One

by Marsha Iddings

Ephesians 5:25, 31 Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it;... For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall be joined unto his wife, and they two shall be one flesh.

As I have watched the eagles, I have been amazed at how both parents work together as a team.  In the early days before the eggs were hatched both parents took their turn sitting on the eggs while the other either hunted and brought food back or sat as a look out on the branch not far from the nest.  

When the babies were hatched, they still took turns sitting on the little ones to keep them warm and the one not sitting would hunt and bring back food.  Often both parents worked as a team feeding their young.  They seemed to know exactly what it meant to work together as one.  One day as they were feeding the babies, they even fed each other!

What a wonderful example we have in nature of how a marriage should work.  Both husband and wife are to come together as one flesh not only in the physical union of marriage but as husband and wife working together for a common goal.  

If the father eagle had decided after the eggs were laid to go do his own thing, the mother eagle would have been forced by hunger to leave the nest to find food for herself.  The eggs would have gotten too cold and would never have hatched. God designed it that they should work as a team and so he has designed human marriage to be the same.

We have much to learn from the eagles who know nothing of marriage or God's design for it, yet so well illustrate how it should work out practically.  Only God could design this into His creation.  It couldn't just happen without a design planned into it by Him.

Lessons from the Decorah Eagles: Watching for Our Lord

Revelation 1:7 Behold, He is coming with clouds, and every eye will see Him, even they who pierced Him. And all the tribes of the earth will mourn because of Him. Even so, Amen.

 Mark 13:26 "Then they will see the Son of Man coming in the clouds with great power and glory.

I was watching the eagles one day when I heard the flapping of large wings near the camera and the mom and two of the babies immediately perked up and began to stare somewhere above the camera.  If you click on each of the pictures they will enlarge in a separate window and you can see the two babies looking toward the camera.  They knew their Daddy was near by and they eagerly watched him.

As I watch the babies in the nest when the mom and dad are away, I can often tell when one of the parents is coming.  The babies' heads will pop up and they watch with eagerness and follow Mom or Dad with their eyes.  

One day our Lord will return in the clouds with great glory.  Are we watching eagerly for His return? 

Lessons from the Decorah Eagles: Eagle's Wings

Isaiah 40:31 But those who wait on the LORD Shall renew their strength; They shall mount up with wings like eagles, They shall run and not be weary, They shall walk and not faint.

As I have been watching the eagles, I am amazed at their power when they take to flight from the nest and fly down to a perch below.  As they care for their young, they seem to have a continual supply of energy.  When they fly into the nest, if I have the sound up on my computer speakers, the sound of the wind that their wings makes is surprising. 

They have had the strength to protect their young through snowy winter days and from predators such as owls that would try to snatch their young in the night. Yet in spite of these sometimes long and difficult days and nights, they have the strength to continue to hunt and care for their young. 

This Scripture promise is not saying that we will never be physically weary.  At this writing I am very weary from a day on the road and visiting in another city.  Sometimes I don't sleep well and am just plain tired out. It's a fact of life that we do grow weary from time to time.  As we age, our bodies slow down and we become physically tired much more easy.

What I believe this passage is talking about is spiritual strength and perseverance.  As we wait on the Lord each day, He will give us the spiritual strength we need for the challenges of the day.  Sometimes this translates to physical energy as well, because as we trust Him and wait on Him, it means we don't spend our energy worrying and fretting over things we have no control over.

God is faithful and He can and will take care of the details of life that we can't control.  Therefore, we can wait on Him and He will renew our strength to continue on through whatever difficulties or trials come our way.

Lessons from the Decorah Eagles: Refuge Under His Wings

Psalm 91:4 

He shall cover you with His feathers, And under His wings you shall take refuge; His truth shall be your shield and buckler.

It was a cold, wet, snowy day for the eagle family.  Mom and Dad Eagle were both cold and wet, but I captured this picture of one of them with wings spread out to cover the babies.  The babies were glad to take refuge from the cold under the parent's feathers.

This is a wonderful picture of what the verse above says.  Of course we know that God doesn't have wings and feathers.  This is a metaphor to show us God's protection over us and how we can take refuge in Him.  What a wonderful place of security!  

Lessons from the Decorah Eagles: We Need Each Other

Ecclesiastes 4:9,11

 Two are better than one, Because they have a good reward for their labor.

 Again, if two lie down together, they will keep warm; But how can one be warm alone?

This is another picture of what I saw the day the eagle family had to endure the storm.  Even the eagles understand that two are better than one and that they can keep each other warm in the storm. It was heartwarming and heart wrenching at the same time to observe these eagles during this time.

The Apostle Paul talks about how Christians as the body of Christ can't say we don't need each other.

 For in fact the body is not one member but many. If the foot should say, "Because I am not a hand, I am not of the body," is it therefore not of the body? And if the ear should say, "Because I am not an eye, I am not of the body," is it therefore not of the body?  If the whole body were an eye, where would be the hearing? If the whole were hearing, where would be the smelling?  But now God has set the members, each one of them, in the body just as He pleased. (1 Corinthians 12:14-18)

We need each other.  God has put us in the body of Christ so that we can help meet each other's needs.  We can use the eagles as examples to us of how we can help others in need of encouragement and mutual support.

Lessons from the Decorah Eagles: Perseverance

Photo by  Tracey Miller Brown 

 James 5:11 Indeed we count them blessed who endure. You have heard of the perseverance of Job and seen the end intended by the Lord--that the Lord is very compassionate and merciful.

Here is a picture of perseverance. Mom eagle has her brood all tucked underneath and with her head down against the wind and snow she perseveres to keep her family warm. She is wet, dirty, cold and no doubt hungry as she worked hard with her mate the day before preparing their babies with extra food and nesting materials.  

Job was one who persevered through very difficult circumstances.  We often wonder why God allows such difficulties to come our way.  Here we learn that the end intended by the Lord is that He might show Himself compassionate and merciful as we go through the fires of affliction.  One way He does this is by using trials to strengthen us and to help develop in us character qualities that are pleasing in His sight. 

We would never know the joy of a warm summer day if we never knew the deep bone chilling cold of winter.  If we never had to endure affliction, we would never experience the comfort of others and be able to give comfort to others in their afflictions.  You see, with every difficulty comes a gift.  But the gift only comes to those who persevere through the 

storm.

Lessons from the Decorah Eagles: Tribulations & Trials

 Romans 5:3 And not only that, but we also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance;

There had been a bad snow storm  and when I got up to see how the eagles were doing, the camera lens was completely covered with snow and ice.  I couldn't see anything.  I left the web page up and went on with my morning, glancing over at the screen periodically to see if anything had changed.  Little by little the snow and ice began to slide down the screen until the scene above was revealed.

Mom and Dad eagle were both sitting on the babies to keep them warm as well as trying to keep each other warm as they were both covered in wet snow and ice.  Clearly, they had been through this before as they have nested at this site since 2007.  Their tribulations of the past had produced perseverance for them now as they sat this storm out and waited for better weather ahead.

God allows us to weather stormy circumstances in our lives because He knows it will produce perseverance.  As we grow through the trials and tribulations that come our way and we see God's faithfulness to provide for us, we are strengthened and encouraged to persevere through future trials because we know God will be with us in them also.  

Are you going through some tough times?  Look to God's faithfulness to get you through it. He will help you to  come out stronger in your faith so that as you face subsequent storms in the future you will be able to persevere through them.

Lessons from the Decorah Eagles: Preparation

Proverbs 31:21 She is not afraid of snow for her household, For all her household is clothed with scarlet.

For two days we watched as the parent eagles gorged their babies with food.  It seemed every time  we looked they were bringing in prey and feeding their young.  They also brought in lots of extra nesting materials and spent time fluffing up the nest.  It seemed they were preparing for something.

The next day I got up and turned on the computer to check on the eagles.  I couldn't see a thing.  The camera was covered with ice and snow for part of the morning.  It seemed the eagles knew bad weather was coming.  

They prepared their babies for long hours without food by filling them full for two days before.  They had prepared their nest for the cold by bringing in more nesting materials to keep them warmer.

It was an example of preparation.  The Proverbs 31 wife is described as not being afraid of the snow for her family because she has prepared them ahead of time for the cold.  She is never idle, but looks ahead and prepares herself and her family for the future.  

God also prepares for His own for the future: 

John 14:2-6 "In My Father's house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. "And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also. "And where I go you know, and the way you know." Thomas said to Him, "Lord, we do not know where You are going, and how can we know the way?" Jesus said to him, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.

Lessons from Creation: The Eyes of the Lord

Proverbs 15:3  The eyes of the LORD are in every place, Keeping watch on the evil and the good.

Eagles have excellent eyesight.  They have two centers of focus so the birds can see both forward and to the side at the same time.  They can see a fish in the water from several hundred feet above.  

Eagles can see in color.  Their eye is almost the same size as a human's, but they see four times better than a human with perfect vision.  They can fly at 1000 feet altitude over open country and spot prey over an area of almost 3 square miles from a fixed position..~American Bald Eagle Information

While the eagle has tremendous eyesight, it is nothing compared to our Lord's eyesight.  Our scripture above says that His eyes are in every place watching the good and the evil.  This verse shows us that God is omnipresent.  He transcends time and space and is right where you are as if you are the only place He was, yet at the same time he is everywhere else.  This is mind blowing, yet it is the truth of Scripture.

If each of us lived our lives as if we really believed the Lord's eyes were every place and seeing every good and evil, how would this impact the way we live and conduct our lives day to day, minute by minute?  Next time you see a bird of prey, remember that the Lord is watching you.

Lessons from Creation: God Provides

Photo by Kelli Rooney

Matthew 6:26 "Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?

During the last several weeks I have been observing, via live web camera, an eagle's nest located in Decorah, Iowa.  These eagles have been a great example to me of God's provision and of character qualities that He would have me to develop in my life.

The verse above has been so well illustrated in the eagle's lives.  They are able to bring in a veritable banquet to their nest to feed their young and each other.  Fish, squirrel, small birds, rodents, muskrats have all been brought in to feed the family.  On one particular day someone counted 15 fish!

These eagles don't have the ability to sow seeds, grow crops, reap them and store them into barns, yet our Heavenly Father sees to it that they have the food they need.  If  He cares so much for the birds of the air, are you not much more valuable than they?  He will take care of you and me too, because in His eyes, we are more valuable then the birds that He cares for.

Coming Soon! " Lessons from Creation"

(I'm not sure these photos will post to facebook from my blog, so if you want to see them FB friends come to my blog!)

These photos are not in order of  event, but I wanted to post up some highlights of the Decorah Eagles from he past couple of weeks.  It's has been quite an experience observing these creatures up close.  I have been taking notes of my observations and plan to start writing a series of devotionals using these eagles as examples from creation to illustrate character traits that God expects His people to develop in their lives.                                                                 

 This photo was taken today, April 19, 2011.

 This was also taken April 19, 2011 as well as the other snow photos below. There is snow on the camera lens that is beginning to slide off the lens in these photos.