CRISIS: DANGER + OPPORTUNITY
Once an eagle reaches maturity, it molts each year. It’s beak keeps growing, so even if damaged soon it is as good as new. I was reading that you cannot tell the age of an eagle once it has reached an adult stage. It seems their strength does not diminish. Their color does not fade. They are one of the longest-living of all birds, with a life expectancy of over 25 years in the wild, and having been known to live 50 years in captivity.
A famous surgeon was seldom seen on the streets without a beautiful, fresh rose in his lapel. His friends wondered why these buds stayed fresh for so long a time. When they asked him his secret, he turned back the flap of his coat and revealed a little bottle of water into which the stem of the flower had been inserted.
So it is with believers. If our lives draw from the great resources of the Lord Jesus, who is in us the Water of Life, we will grow more fragrant and beautiful as the days and years go by.
Psal 18:31 For who is God besides the LORD? And who is the Rock except our God? 32 It is God who arms me with strength and makes my way perfect. 33 He makes my feet like the feet of a deer; he enables me to stand on the heights.
The Chinese do not have an alphabet as we know it. Rather than letters, words are represented by symbols. They have an interesting word-symbol for "crisis." It is a combination of the symbols for "danger" and "opportunity." Our times of trouble we face can make us bitter or better. They are opportunities to learn to lean on the strength of God and to remember His blessings.
(Stephen Sheane, "Remembering the Blessings" 1/19/2009)