Commitment – Excerpt from Joyce Meyer’s book “NEVER GIVE UP”
When an eaglet is about one year old, he begins to develop some independence. His eyesight is good at this point, and his talons are sharp. He can find his own food, fly, and even soar a little bit. He lives his life as a young eagle for about three more years, continuing to grow and gain strength, improving in all his abilities, and just getting established in life as an eagle.
Buy by the time the eagle is about four years old, he begins to change – not deliberately, but instinctively. He feels uncomfortable inside, strange, and uneasy. He probably does not understand what is happening to him. Eventually, in the midst of this strange season of growth, he begins to realize he was not created only to live for his own pleasure. He wants his life to be about more than himself.
At that point, the male eagle leaves to find a female. When he finds one, they begin a game of tag, which is actually a type of courtship. His uneasiness is a longing for love! It is time for him to grow up. The female eagle soars high in the sky in a figure-eight pattern and makes the male eagle chase her. Now he is no longer flying his own; he is following someone else—someone who appears to be going in a strange direction.
After a little while she dives to the ground, picks up a twig , flies up to about ten thousand feet, and drops the twig. He dives at approximately two hundred miles per hour to catch the twig in midair and takes it back to her. What is her response? She ignores him.
At this point, even though he probably feels very insulted, he has a decision to make: “Am I going to really get committed and see this through to the finish? Is this really what I want? Or should I just forget about this and find something a little easier to do with my time?”
The female eagle repeats this process, and she makes the male’s job increasingly difficult. Each time she flies, the twig gets larger and she flies at a lower altitude. That means the twig is going to hit the ground faster, and the male will have to work harder if he wants to win her over.
This game can literally go on for days. Finally, the female gets a branch that is heavier than the male eagle. I can imagine he would want to say, “This is not fair! Now, God, You know I can’t do that. Come on, God, You know that is too much for me!” This time the female flies only five hundred feet above the ground and drops the branch. If he catches it, they go on together. If not, she flies off and leaves him; she has decided to wait for a male eagle who has the tenacity to be her man.
For the male eagle to continue this process, he must be extremely committed. Once he passes the foma; twig test, both eagles move from courtship to the final commitment test. She flies high into the sky; he chases her; and suddenly she makes an odd move. In midair, she flips over on her back and sticks her talons up. The male moves over her and locks his talons with hers while they fall toward the earth. At this point he has made up his mind. He is committed, and he would die rather than let her go. Now they begin to sing a love song. They mate for life. Neither of them ever has another mate unless one of them dies. If the female dies , the male raises the young. Even after the mating process is finished and she is his and they are in the nest, the male eagle continues to court the female for the rest of their lives. Male eagles have been seen to stroke the feathers of their female companions and to bring green twigs home to them long after the courtship is complete. If you are a woman reading this, you are probably wishing every man on earth would learn a few things from the eagle!
This is the kind of commitment that stays steady and strong throughout the course of a lifetime, and I hope it is the kind of commitment you will develop in your life. You may not have it down perfectly, but if you want to move on with God and be blessed in your life, you need this kind of radical commitment—the kind that follows through even when times are tough, when you feel alone or rejected, or when circumstances look bad. Think of the mighty male eagle who stays committed, even though his commitment could cost him his life. And learn to say from the core of your being, “Nothing is going to shake my commitment in this situation. I am going to see it through to the finish. I will not give up, no matter what. ” ~ Joyce Meyer , “ Never Give Up! – Relentless Determination to Overcome Life’s Challenges”
