A fable is told about an eagle who thought he was a chicken. When the eagle was very small, he fell from the safety of his nest. A chicken farmer found the eagle, brought him to the farm, and raised him in a chicken coop among his many chickens. The eagle grew up doing what chickens do, living like a chicken, clucking, pecking and scratching the ground and believing he was a chicken.
A naturalist came to the chicken farm to see if what he had heard about an eagle acting like a chicken was really true. He knew that an eagle is king of the sky. He was surprised to see the eagle strutting around the chicken coop, pecking at the ground, and acting very much like a chicken. The farmer explained to the naturalist that this bird was no longer an eagle. He was now a chicken because he had been trained to be a chicken, he believed that he was a chicken and he was comfortable being a chicken.The naturalist knew there was more to this great bird than his actions showed as he “pretended” to be a chicken. He was born an eagle and had the heart of an eagle, and nothing could change that. The man lifted the eagle onto the fence surrounding the chicken coop and said, “Thou art an eagle. Stretch forth thy wings and fly.” The eagle moved slightly, only to look at the man; then he glanced down at his home among the chickens in the chicken coop where he was comfortable. He jumped off the fence and continued doing what chickens do. The farmer was satisfied. “I told you it was a chicken,” he said.
The naturalist returned the next day and tried again to convince the farmer and the eagle that the eagle was born for something greater. He took the eagle to the top of the farmhouse and spoke to him: “Eagle, thou art an eagle. You belong to the sky and not to the earth. Stretch forth your wings and fly.” The large bird looked at the man, then again down into the chicken coop. He jumped from the man’s arm onto the roof of the farmhouse.
Knowing what eagles are really about, the naturalist asked the farmer to let him try one more time. He would return the next day and prove that this bird was an eagle. The farmer, convinced otherwise, said, “It is a chicken.”
Are there any ways that you see yourself as a barnyard chicken and are not aware of your potential grandeur? You could soar like an eagle. What would that look like for you? Like the eagle, we are afraid to be different and step away from what is comfortable. We are worried about what others think of us or worried that we might fail…that we are not good enough and so we do not reach our full potential.
The naturalist returned the next morning to the chicken farm and took the eagle and the farmer some distance away to the foot of a high mountain. They could not see the farm nor the chicken coop from this new setting. The man held the eagle on his arm and pointed high into the sky where the bright sun was beckoning above. He spoke: “Thou art an eagle! Thou dost belong to the sky and not to the earth. Stretch forth thy wings and fly.” This time the eagle stared skyward into the bright sun, straightened his large body, and stretched his massive wings. His wings moved, slowly at first, then surely and powerfully. With the mighty screech of an eagle, he flew.When we came to this earth from our comfortable home in Heaven, we had high hopes. I can imagine us telling our Heavenly Father that we would make him proud of us, that we would be faithful and would never forget him. When we were in his presence we could not even imagine that we would do otherwise, but then a veil was put over our eyes, so that we could not remember our home in Heaven or the promises we made. We had to start over and search for the truth.
Our Father in Heaven knows each of us and our potential. He wants us to fly, but often we are more comfortable with the chickens and afraid to let go of the life of a chicken by opening our wings to fly. If we cannot stretch our wings, we will remain with the chickens and miss out on the wonders that are ours above.
President Uchtdorf said, "Either you are committed or you are not. Either you are moving forward or you are standing still. There is no half way. We all face moments that will change our lives. As members of the Church, we must ask ourselves, will I dive in or just stand at the edge? Will I step forward or merely test the temperature of the water with my toes."
(Will I fly with the eagles or peck with the chickens?)
In some way each of us stands at a decision point overlooking the water or looking up to the sky, It is my prayer that we will have faith, move forward, face our fears and doubts with courage to stand up for what we believe, to live up to our potential, to stay true to the faith so that we will end up at our celestial destination, enveloped in our Heavenly Father's arms.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Elder Kyle's talk was on Revelation and he referred a lot to the book by Gerald Lund, "Hearing the Voice of the Lord (Principles and Patterns of Personal Revelation". He said typically personal revelation comes as warnings and cited as examples Joseph in a dream was warned that Herod would seek to kill the baby Jesus and was told that he needed to take his family to Egypt. Lehi was also warned in a dream that the people of Jerusalem were going to kill him and that he needed to flee into the wilderness. He told a story about Elder Milton R. Hunter, a member of the First Quorum of Seventy. He was on assignment in Southern Mexico. Finished with their business in one location they boarded a small single engine plane to fly several hundred miles to Tuxta in Chiapas Mexico. They would travel over rugged mountains and dense jungle. Elder Hunter recorded this: "We had traveled a few hours when darkness came on suddenly, as it does in the tropics. Just as suddenly, the Holy Spirit told me that if we did not change course quickly, we would all get killed. I immediately told the pilot that we were going in the wrong direction. A very depressing, dark feeling came over me - gloom and despair. The pilot asked, 'President Hunter, which direction should we go?' I replied, 'Turn immediately to the right and go north.' The pilot turned and a sweet, peaceful feeling came into my heart. The Holy Spirit let me know that all would be well. We landed safely a short time later. We then learned that another plane on the same route had crashed into a mountain killing all aboard."
Another type of spiritual revelation (hearing the Lord's voice) is spiritual self-reliance. Dallin H. Oaks said, "Revelation from God - the teachings and directions of the spirit - are not constant. We believe in continuing revelation, not continuous revelation. We were often left to work out the dictation of specific direction of the Spirit. This is the part of the experience we must have in mortality. We do not rely on revelation to know what type of toothpaste to buy. Revelation is plentiful for you. The Lord answers your prayers. How are you doing accepting the answers? This is important, because it ultimately determines if revelation continues, if prayers continue to be answered. We don't persist in prayer to change God's mind. We persist in prayer to change our hearts.
D&C76:5-7, 10
For thus saith the Lord - I, the Lord am merciful and gracious unto those who fear me, and delight to honor those who serve me in righteousness and in truth to the end. Great shall be their reward and eternal shall be their glory. And to them will I reveal all mysteries, yea, all the hidden mysteries of my kingdom from days of old and for ages to come, will I make known unto them the good pleasure of my will concerning all things pertaining to my kingdom. For by my Spirit will I enlighten them, and by my power will I make known unto them the secrets of my will - yea, even those things which eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor yet entered into the heart of man.
It was a really good talk.
The next week, Elder Kyle dealt with the trip to Salt Lake City for Ukhozi FM (based in Durban). There are some government people from Durban who would like to go to learn about things the church does to grow food and distribute, plus other humanitarian services, so Elder Kyle is coordinating that effort with the help of our dear friend Sipho, Hillcrest Stake PA Director in Durban. This is something Elder Bednar discussed with a government official when he was in Durban.
One of the heads of Public Affairs in Salt Lake is coming for the National Director's conference and he and our new South Africa Public Affairs Director, plus four people from Humanitarian will be making a trip to Durban to finalize plan for the SLC trip.
Elder Kyle is also flying to Botswana this weekend with Sean to go speak to the Mission President down there. We are still working on the country plan for Botswana and they think the Mission President can help them finalize the document, by making sure they are covering the things he thinks are important.
This gives you an idea of how busy we are, since I probably only listed half of what we are doing, but there is a feeling of satisfaction that we are accomplishing great things. We got a good report back from the Congo visitors and Family History department feels the Congo visit is already opening doors to other countries who now want their records digitized. The work rolls forward! We're just trying to keep up!
No comments:
Post a Comment