Young Geese Flying

© Jeff R. Filler

Moscow, ID

July 2006

 Today the geese flew, perhaps for the first time. I have been watching them from their birth. I set the sprinkler on my garden, and called Jackie over, and we got in the row boat. The two families of geese swam over to the west side of the pond. We pursued. As we got close, they climbed the bank. Whether on purpose, or not, the bank was too steep for them to climb more than 10 or 15 feet. The adult turned around, somewhat facing us, and flew. “This is what you do”… (she seemed to be saying, by her actions). The others had no choice but to follow. One and several at a time, and in their own way, they launched, flapping with a clumsy beauty, not quite knowing where to put their feet, not quite knowing how or where to go, but in a short amount of time, the family of five were airborne, and together. They made several passes over the area, and then landed out in the safety of the more open water of the pond.

It was now the next family’s turn. They could climb higher before trapped, so Jackie climbed out of the boat after them. Mom launched first (or maybe Dad), and the others followed. Some crashed on land after take off, and ran to the water; some flew on out with more success; some flew out over the trees. Eventually, they, too, collected in the open water of the pond.

Heretofore they had waddled, walked, and swam; they had gotten pretty good at it. It was even their life and for the most part their parents had surrendered the splendor of flight to walk and swim with them, on the ground.

But these young geese had never flown.

But they were made to.

They didn’t take flying lessons. They didn’t need a book on flying, or consult an engineer, or scientist. They didn’t have to “figure it out.”

They simply one day flew. They just had to do it.

In this case, they were cornered. They had to. And yet, with a few wing beats, they were flying. They were flying!.  They were doing it! They had some awkward moments, yes, some crashes, but all were accounted for afterward out in the pond.

Oh, God! How it is with us! We were made to fly. And yet we spend our lives waddling and swimming about. We never leave the ground, or pond. God has made us to soar, and yet we live as though with clipped wings.

Oh, some foul do have clipped wings…and they learn to get by, on the farm, waddling, swimming, quacking, squawking, but hardly in elegance and beauty. But we are not that foul, with wings clipped, confined to the earth. God destined us to fly.

God births us here, and even spends time with us here – but eventually we are to quit “being children” and fly.

And how? The geese didn’t have to see a therapist. They didn’t have to be `healed’, or delivered. Flying was their deliverance - and flying is ours. They didn’t read a book, they didn’t take lessons; they simply had to do it.

So God wants us to soar with him. He will live with us down here for a little while, while we are babes, but the day will come when we must fly. God cannot do it for us. God cannot even take us by the hand. But God shows us, and we follow. And after the first flap or two, our lives enter a whole new realm.

She purposefully led them there … to where they had to fly.  Oh, we need to quit wishing life be so easy – so easy that all we have to do is waddle and squawk.  We need to trust God.  And if it seems he has led us to the edge, or to a spot where there is now way out – perhaps he has a whole new realm for us.