AM
Refugee
The Golden Eagle
A man found an eagle's egg and put it in the nest of a backyard hen. The eagle hatched with the brood of chicks and grew up with them.
All his life the eagle did what the backyard chickens did, thinking he was a backyard chicken. He scratched the earth for worms and insects. He clucked and cackled. And he would thrash his wings and fly a few feet into the air.
Years passed and the eagle grew very old. One day he saw a magnificent bird far above him in the cloudless sky. It glided in graceful majesty among the powerful wind currents, with scarcely a beat of its strong golden wings.
The old eagle looked up in awe. "Who's that?" he asked.
"That's the eagle, the king of the birds." Said his neighbor. "He belongs to the sky. We belong to the earth---we're chickens."
So the eagle lived and died a chicken, for that's what he thought he was.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - -
"This is the beginning of a new day.
God has given me this day to use as I will.
I can waste it or use it for good.
What I do today is very important because I am exchanging a day of my life for it.
When tomorrow comes, this day will be gone forever, leaving something in its place I have traded for it.
I want it to be a gain, not loss---good, not evil---success, not failure,
in order that I shall not forget the price I paid for it."
A man found an eagle's egg and put it in the nest of a backyard hen. The eagle hatched with the brood of chicks and grew up with them.
All his life the eagle did what the backyard chickens did, thinking he was a backyard chicken. He scratched the earth for worms and insects. He clucked and cackled. And he would thrash his wings and fly a few feet into the air.
Years passed and the eagle grew very old. One day he saw a magnificent bird far above him in the cloudless sky. It glided in graceful majesty among the powerful wind currents, with scarcely a beat of its strong golden wings.
The old eagle looked up in awe. "Who's that?" he asked.
"That's the eagle, the king of the birds." Said his neighbor. "He belongs to the sky. We belong to the earth---we're chickens."
So the eagle lived and died a chicken, for that's what he thought he was.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - -
"This is the beginning of a new day.
God has given me this day to use as I will.
I can waste it or use it for good.
What I do today is very important because I am exchanging a day of my life for it.
When tomorrow comes, this day will be gone forever, leaving something in its place I have traded for it.
I want it to be a gain, not loss---good, not evil---success, not failure,
in order that I shall not forget the price I paid for it."