Eagles and Turkeys
Many years ago I listened to a sermon preached by a man called Peter Lord, I remember it well for it greatly impacted my life at that time, and God used it bless me in a great way. In the sermon Peter tells of a vision/dream he had (I can’t remember which he said it was) concerning Eagles and Turkeys. I believe that vision or dream was genuinely of the Lord, and I repeat it now as best I am able from memory, please understand that I have embellished it some in the almost 25 years since I first heard it. But the basic story of an eagle raised as a turkey remains the same. May God use it to bless you, and help you to understand who you are.
In his vision Peter saw some eagles nesting high up in a tree, there was a momma eagle, a poppa eagle and 2 baby eaglets. Peter then went on to describe some of the characteristics of eagles. They are beautiful flying birds, loving to fly soaring high in the sky for hours at a time. They were made for flight. They are also birds of prey, meat eaters, hunting, killing, and devouring, as opposed to other birds (turkeys) that are primarily grain/grub eaters. Meat eaters look down on grain eaters. Real men eat beef! The idea being conveyed that eagles are tough, strong and totally cool birds.
Men have admired eagles for these traits so much so, that the eagle is the one bird of all others that we as a nation have chosen to symbolize us, "The land of the free, and the home of the brave." To help put in perspective the strength and majesty that an eagle conveys, what would it have said about us if our national bird was a parakeet?
Continuing our story, one day momma and papa eagle went out to cruise. Eagles love to cruise the skies. While gone a strong wind came and knocked the two eaglets to the ground in the midst of the forest. Stunned, scared, and confused they walked the woods crying for momma and poppa. They soon wandered far from the tree and nest in which they were being raised. They were at this time too young to have learned to fly, but it was hard wired into their genetic coding, they were creatures of the air, and they were meat eaters.
Soon they were very lost in the woods. Momma and poppa searched and searched but never found their children.
As the eaglets wandered in the woods that day, other creatures were wandering also. One was a hen turkey that had never had any children, though she greatly wanted them. As the hen went foraging for grubs and bugs that day, she heard off in the distance the two eaglets crying, "momma, momma!" She headed in the direction of the eaglets and before long found them cowering underneath a bush, "children, come out from there," she called to them. "What’s the problem, where are your parents?"
"We don’t know, we are lost."
"Well, let’s see what we can do about that."
For a few hours they searched the forest in vain looking for the eaglets nest and family. At the end of a wearisome day the hen turkey told the eaglets that they could come and live with her and that she would take care of them. She wanted kids, they wanted a momma - a perfect match.
Things went well for a while, but the eagles never fully fit in with the turkeys they were being raised with. For if you are a turkey, you raise your children to be a turkey. One of the two eaglets, (we’ll call him Tom), had an especially difficult time adjusting to life as a turkey. For one thing, he was no longer getting fresh meat from his parents but was out scratching and digging for worms and grubs, and eating seeds and grains. Every now and then he’d see a rabbit in the woods and for some reason unknown to him, he would start salivating.
Once when he saw a rabbit, he said to his brother Jerome, "hey Jerome let’s go kill and eat that rabbit."
"What are you talking about," said Jerome. "We are turkeys, we don’t eat rabbits, we eat worms, and bugs, and grubs, and grain. But rabbit? we never eat that." Tom put the idea out of his head for the moment, but it just seemed to keep coming back and coming back. One day on a spring morning the turkeys were all out in a cow pasture, sifting through the cow pies for seeds. It seems cows can’t digest the seeds, and they are an especial delicacy to the turkeys. Tom had his beak all covered in dung, he looked over and saw his brother was as covered with mess as he was, he turned to his brother and said, "Jerome something just doesn’t seem right."
"What are you talking about, Tom."
"Well Jerome, it just don’t seem right,
sticking our head down in these cow patties hunting for food. I fell like eating the cow, never mind these patty seeds."
"Cut it out Tom, we are turkeys, this is what turkeys eat. I am a turkey, you are a turkey, our mother is a turkey, our father is a turkey, our cousins are turkeys, everybody we know are turkeys, just cut it out Tom." (They had been adopted at such an early age, they had forgotten about their true parents)
"I don’t know Jerome, I just can’t eat this stuff anymore. Beside that I want to fly."
"Now what are you talking about Tom, we fly all the time?" (Turkeys fly by continually flapping their wings, and they usually only fly for short lengths of time, while eagles by adjusting their wings tips can soar for hours and love to do so.)
"No, I don’t want to fly, I want to really fly. High up above all the trees, I want to soar in the clouds."
"There you go again Tom, you know turkeys don’t soar. What is all this dreaming in your head? How many times do I have to tell you, I am a turkey, you are a turkey, our mother is a turkey, our father is a turkey, our cousins are turkeys, everybody we know are turkeys, just cut it out Tom."
With that Tom took off for a walk in the woods. Deep inside a great struggle was going on, between what God had made him to be and the way he was living. As he walked in the woods that day he went weeping, and who do you think he happened upon as he walked that day? That’s right a wise old owl, who saw Tom weeping and asked him what was wrong. Tom told him he wanted to soar in the clouds and eat some fresh meat. The wise old owl then asked him, "well why don’t you just go do it?"
Tom looked at him with a look as if to say, "how can you be so dumb to ask such a question?" Then he said to the owl, "I am a turkey, my mother is a turkey, my father is a turkey, my cousins are turkeys, everybody I know are turkeys, and everybody knows turkeys don’t soar and turkeys don’t eat rabbits and things like that."
"You are not a turkey, you are an eagle," said the wise old owl.
"What are you talking about," said Tom with a stunned expression, then added, "I am a turkey, my mother is a turkey, my father is a turkey, my cousins are turkeys, everybody I know are turkeys, so don’t try to get my hopes up with such foolish talk."
"Young man I have been in these woods a very long time, and I know an eagle when I see one. Haven’t you ever noticed you look and feel different from all the other turkeys?"
"Yeah, I have thought about it many times, but every time I bring it up to my brother, who happens to look just like me, he says, I am a turkey, you are a turkey, our mother is a turkey, our father is a turkey, our cousins are turkeys, everybody we know are turkeys, just cut it out Tom."
"Believe me young man, you are not a turkey, but an eagle. Have you ever tried to soar or eat rabbit?"
"Why should I, I am a turkey, my mother is a turkey, my father is a turkey, my cousins are turkeys, everybody I know are turkeys, and everybody knows turkeys don’t do such things."
"Would it hurt to try? I see by your tears, it is hurting you terribly not to try?"
"I don’t think there would be any harm in it, it just seems like it would be a waste of time to try."
"Go ahead, give it a shot, what have you got to lose?"
"Nothing much I guess, ok I’ll give it a try." With that, for the first time in his life, Tom took off for the sky, and attempted to see how far he could go. He climbed higher and higher, the higher he got the happier he got. ’This is cool,’ he thought to himself, as he finally began to be what God had called him to be.
He suddenly became aware of another talent that had laid dormant in his life, he had phenomenal vision. He could see the littlest details even though he was so high up, one of the things he saw was field mouse, moving through some grass. It wasn’t exactly a rabbit, but he thought it might be a good start. He quickly swooped down, rejoicing as he felt the wind flowing past his body, the tension of the hunt, and the excitement of a fresh meal. Quickly he killed and ate the mouse and he thought it was the best thing he had ever eaten in his life. ’I’ll never stick my beak in a cow pie again,’ he thought as he relished every morsel of his fresh kill.
Finally Tom was living like he always felt he was meant to live. Finally Tom was living the way God intended for him to live. Imagine being an eagle and living like a turkey! As he finished his meal he thought of his brother, and he said to himself, "If I’m and eagle, so is Jerome!" He flew back to his brother and tried and tried to convince him he was an eagle, but all he ever got out of his brother was, "I am a turkey, my mother is a turkey, my father is a turkey, my cousins are turkeys, everybody I know are turkeys, cut it out Tom."
Dismayed at his inability to change his brothers mind, he at last bid him good-bye and started out for his grand adventure. For there is no greater joy than an eagle, who lives like a turkey, but finally finds out the truth and begins to live the way God intended them to.
Who are you?
The Bible teaches that man was made with something very special placed deep within his/her heart: "...He has also set eternity in their heart, yet so that man will not find out the work which God has done from the beginning even to the end." (Ec 3:11) This verse teaches that God has put eternity in the heart of man and done it in such a way that it is not readily obvious or easily grasped. We are like the eagles in the previous story, who are being raised as turkeys and yet we have a longing to be more than turkeys hunting and pecking in this life, we long to soar with the eagles. Billy Graham puts it this way, that God has placed a "God shaped vacuum in the heart of man, an empty space that He alone can fill." I think there is a vacuum in the life of every man and woman who has not been born again, and in addition I believe there is a neon arrow that lights up every now and them to remind them and tell them something is missing.
Sir, Ma’am, have you ever asked Jesus to fill that God shaped vacuum in your heart? God made you to be an eagle, the devil wants you to be thinking you are a turkey and foraging in cow pies. If your are like Tom Turkey in the story above and something inside you is saying, "Jerome something just doesn’t seem right," I want to tell you what to do about it.
Bow your head right now and breathe a prayer to God, and say, "Jesus come into my heart, fill the vacuum that I have inside there and help me to fulfill the wonderful destiny you have for me." God has a wonderful plan for your life, He wants you to know what real joy is. If you have prayed that prayer you are own your way to unfolding your wings and finally beginning to fly.
