Stirring Up the Nest

        

          Recently I began to feel very restless and uneasy. I kept feeling that something was missing or that I was supposed to be doing something but just couldn’t figure out what it was! I kept thinking there has to be more to life than this…what am I missing? Have YOU ever felt this way…or is it just me?

          Someone once said to me, “If you always do what you’ve always done, you’ll always get what you always got!” I love this saying because it always makes me THINK! Basically it means, when you do things the same old way you will always get the same old result.

 One day I was flipping through my bible looking for a particular passage when my eyes fell on a note I had written in the margin, “stir up the nest”. I looked up the passage and realized that my restlessness may be a signal that my life had become stagnant. I was at a stand-still and not growing. So I said, “Lord, I think I’m ready for a change, a challenge. I don’t want to do the same old thing and get the same old results, so Lord, stir up my nest!”

          Ok, a little warning here…don’t tell God you are ready for a challenge IF you really don’t mean it!!! But if you are up for an adventure…open your heart and open your mouth before God and invite Him to stir up your nest. You will be delightfully surprised at the hidden gifts and talents and opportunities that He will reveal in you!

          Deuteronomy 32:11 says that God is like an eagle hovering over its young stirring up its nest.

          Having taught about the lifecycle of the eagle, I know that baby eagles are reluctant to leave the comforts of their nest. Like us, they become lazy and complacent with life just as it is. Why mess with a good thing? If it ain't broke, why fix it?

          Eagles are born to soar. They are genetically hardwired to do what they do! At a certain time, the mother eagle begin's to pull out all the creature comforts to make the nest as uncomfortable and inhospitable as possible. This causes the eaglet venture further out onto the edge of the nest where it has to hang on for dear life. Strong gusts of wind threaten to knock the eaglet off its perch. Instictively the eaglet begins to flap his wings and lift off a little bit. The very thing that the eaglet is afraid of is what makes him stronger.

        The eagle parents teach their young by example, and eventually the little eagle has to take a dive!  Sometimes the mother eagle will even push the eaglet out of the nest if she sees he will not attempt to fly on his own! But either way, the eaglet has to to fly in order to survive.

          Sometimes the eaglet catches the wind and takes wing immediately and sometimes it tumbles head over heels in a barrel roll, plummeting like a rock. The mother eagle stays right with her eaglet, somehow encouraging it to pull up. Instinct kicks in and the eaglet pulls out of the barrel roll and rides the wind!!!

          God is this way with us. He allows us to stay in our comfort zones and sit back on our laurels for a little while, but when change is needed, something happens. We can either sit and complain or step out on faith and do something we've never done before! The unknown is always a little scary at first but then your adrenelin kiscks in and you are shifted into survival mode. You are determined to succeed and be better than you were before.  

          It says in John 14:12 Truely I tell you, whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father.

         WOW! The Word says we can do greater things than Jesus did! Whoa! No wonder He stirs up our nest and tries to get us to dream bigger and trust him to help us carry it out. In Jeremiah 29:11 the Word says, “I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. ¹² Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. ¹³ You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. ¹⁴ I will be found by you,” declares the LORD.

Ok, ok…get this, according to His word, God Almighty has already made special plans for us…promising us a future full of hope and He intends for us to do greater things than Jesus did! When we become complacent, He will stir up our nest and push us out of our comfort zones to seek higher levels!!! WOW! It’s amazing that He has such big dreams for people such as us! If that’s not enough, He has given us the power from within… Phillipians 4:13 says, “I can do all things through him who gives me strength”.

          Friend, the only thing God has ever asked of us is to simply BELIEVE and He will do the rest. We have been guilty of believing so many stupid things, but we resist believing God! Do something different today… come out of your comfort zone and take a chance! Ask Him to stir up your nest and then get ready to mount up on eagles' wings and take flight!

Prayer

Father God, I come before your throne of grace in humble submission. I have lived my life, my way, and seem to be going nowhere fast! I believe there is more to me than just this. I open up my heart to you today. Forgive me for my sins and teach me the way I should go.
 Your Word says you will hear me and answer me if I cry out to you. Your Word says I can do greater things than what you did. Show me how to do better with what you have given me. Your Word says you have plans for me. Show me your plans and teach me how to accomplish them.
I can believe some things in your Word, but I need help to believe ALL the things in your Word. In Jesus name I ask. Amen.