Isaiah 40:31
But those who trust in the LORD will find new strength. They will soar high on wings like eagles. They will run and not grow weary. They will walk and not faint.
A raptor, recently photographed soaring above the West-facing cliffs at Port Bàn. Effortlessly setting its wings to keep it
apparently suspended in mid-air, adjusting them to compensate for the vagaries of updrafts and gusts. Eyes keenly picking out its next meal amongst the West Scotland fauna. God has so wonderfully provided for this creature. It doesn’t need to wonder about its capabilities. It doesn’t worry about its next meal. It gets on with its life, soaring its way through all it encounters. An implicit trust in its Creator is built in to this magnificent creature. But we are different. We have a choice. We can make our way through life, wandering and worrying, downtrodden by the life encounters we experience. Or we can take a lesson from our resident raptor, trusting in our Divine Creator, and finding new resources as we soar above our circumstances, setting our spiritual wings to benefit from the winds of the Spirit, so freely poured out for us all. A lesson for me today – I can so easily find that my joy is crowded out by world events, life’s encounters and circumstances in general. I expect you do as well. So if we find that we are oppressed by the injustices of life, let’s read these verses in Isaiah 40. And keep reading them until we feel the wind of the Holy Spirit start to ruffle our feathers, lift our wings, and before we know it, we will be up there with the raptor!
Being a Pilgrim 