This series on the Biblical metaphor of the eagle resulted from a scheduled tweet series that was my most retweeted ever. This is the second post inspired by the success of that series. In the first, we discussed how eagles must soar rather than flap their wings to fly. To do this, they wait upon thermal winds that lift them high above other birds and carry them along. This is the picture portrayed in Isaiah 40:31 where we are told to “wait upon the Lord” and we will “mount up with wings like eagles”. The winds that would topple us, if we accept them and turn become the winds that allow us to truly soar. There is more to mine from this Biblical metaphor though, much more.

Eagles are also patient, whether waiting for a thermal wind or hunting, they wait. Do you wait or do you rush? Let’s step back and reconsider our path.

Is your environment, that is, your home, your work, your ministry, warlike or not?

Better a patient man than a warrior,
a man who controls his temper than one who takes a city. Proverbs 16:32

Is your environment calm or contentious?

A hot-tempered man stirs up dissension,
but a patient man calms a quarrel. Proverbs 15:18

When trouble comes, how do you react?

Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. Romans 12:12

Do others learn from your suffering? Do you first learn and then share with others who have similar trials in a way that there is a tangible benefit to them? Does your patience bear fruit in others as patience?

If we are distressed, it is for your comfort and salvation; if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which produces in you patient endurance of the same sufferings we suffer. 2 Corinthians 1:6

Do you know how, when patience is required, to recognize the sign posts that you are on the right track?

Be patient, then, brothers, until the Lord’s coming. See how the farmer waits for the land to yield its valuable crop and how patient he is for the autumn and spring rains. James 5:7

What is it that you value enough to wait for patiently? This is your cheatsheet to what you and those around you truly value; what will you/they patiently pursue?

But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently. Romans 8:25

Paul tells us that love is most worthy of patience and is characterized by it.

Love is patient … And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love. 1 Corinthians 13:4,13

Patience is evidence that the Spirit is working in us, it is a fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5: 22) and is a key component of love. The eagle waits for its prey patiently to feed itself and to feed its own; it must be patient to survive. When you see an eagle soar above all birds or swoop down and grab a fish, remember that beautiful moment requires a patient wait.

Next week’s eagle post will pick up here, with the beauty of the markings of an eagle. Eagles are conspicuous not camouflaged.