A Matter of Perspective

I was part of a special training that took place this past weekend. It was for the business I do in my spare time (I know! What is spare time!?).

The speaker—Holton Buggs (HB)—talked about how so many of us wear a “chicken suit” when we are really eagles inside.

He said that when a chicken and an eagle hatch, they look almost identical except for their size—the eagle is bigger. But if you raise an eagle with chickens, the eagle will not act like an eagle; it will act like a chicken. It won’t soar into the sky; it will stick to the flock and only fly a little bit off the ground if it gets scared.

The eagle wasn’t meant to be on the ground or in a flock. It was meant to soar high above and, for the most part, it flies solo.

HB said that it’s lonely at the top because it isn’t very often that you can find another eagle to fly with—but it does happen.

I was determined at that point to take off the chicken suit I have been wearing for the past 59 years and let my eagle soar.

It isn’t an easy thing to do, though, because the eagle inside of me has been cramped down and shoved into a suit that doesn’t fit. It’s too tight, too confining, and too restrictive.

Once I get it off, I’ll have to do some stretching to get my wings to unfurl.

I’ll have to stand up straight to make my back strong.

I’ll have to develop my talons because I will be doing more than scratching around in the dirt for a few seeds.

I’ll have to practice flying. Undoubtedly, I will crash land a few times because these wings have only flown a few feet off the ground. They have only covered very short distances. They haven’t known the heights they can reach. They haven’t known how wide they can stretch to catch the wind.

We all have eagles inside of us. Are we courageous enough to take off the chicken suit? (I’m asking myself, too!)