Leaving the Nest

Have you ever experienced a season in which a particular message kept reappearing in your life? A season in which a trail of unmistakable moments seemed to be leading you to some new insight or revelation? And as time passes you start to wonder whether it's just indigestion or indeed the work of the Spirit. 

Much of my life has orbited around these kinds of experiences. Author Frederick Buechner, says “coincidences are God’s way of getting our attention.”  I refer to this as the activity of God. In these moments God is trying to bring something to bear in our stories and He’s interacting with the natural world to supernaturally open our senses to receive a message that is critical for us to pray into and to understand. 

This was the case when one of my friends of 12+ years sent me a text that read like this: “I was researching eagles this week. Did you know mother eagles encourage eaglets to leave the nest and take flight by placing sharp objects and shards of glass in the nest so the discomfort will prompt them to let go, catch the current and fly?” 

She happened to send this to me when one of the brightest corners of my world had begun to fade in the tension of disappointment and conflict. But I didn’t want to believe God could be leading me to let go of a season I once loved or the dream that once fueled it.

So I didn’t leave the nest. Then one day I was hiking with my son at Radnor Park, a Nashville nature preserve full of wildlife and wonder. We were finishing up when I felt a nudge to stop and listen to a man with a professional camera talking to a few people. As I walked closer I overheard “did you know when mother eagles prepare to release their young into the wild they bring sharp objects to the surface. Once covered by the comfort of feathers, these sharp objects are strategically placed on top where the eaglets will become so uncomfortable, they’ll have no choice but to fly.”

By this point I knew God was orchestrating these unexpected patterns but we can know God is speaking and still brush up against the tension of our own humanity. But in God’s kindness, the third prompting came this past January by way of a 40 day fast. In silence and solitude the word “untethered” continued to echo off of the walls of my heart. I began to feel God’s gentle nudge shepherd my heart “it’s time to let go…to untether yourself from all outcomes and tether yourself to me and me alone.” God’s patient pursuit of me had culminated in a very clear directive. It’s time to let go. It’s time to fly.

Ecclesiastes 3 tells us there is a season for every activity under the heavens. Change is inevitable and no season is final. This means God and God alone will always be our One and only constant in this life and in the life to come. 

In my life, more times than not, I don’t catch the current of God’s will because I resist change. I can get too comfortable - too fearful to fly. Only when the nest becomes uncomfortable do I begin to question the plan. Sometimes we have to experience the pain of overstaying our welcome in any given season to discern its time to move on…to surrender.

Pain is often a motivator; it causes us to pray, reflect, and discern. Is the pain an invitation to fly, to seek care, or to have our faith perfected in patience and waiting? We discern this in the secret place with a God whose love covers all things and whose sovereign hand is always trying to bring something beautiful to bear in our story… for our good and His glory.

Tanya Godsey
FREEDOM MOVEMENT
Director of Spiritual Formation