The Eagle Is . . . Swimming?!
- Maggie Wallem Rowe
- Sep 22
- 4 min read
Steady as She Goes: How God Renews Our Strength
AUDIO LETTER
LOTS of new friends are joining us today! A special welcome to the women of First Pres of Mt. Holly, New Jersey. I loved meeting you all on Saturday. And thanks for being so gracious when you discovered I would NOT be writing about football today. You were excited when I mentioned “Eagles” until you realized I’m a sports illiterate!)
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Are any of you old enough to recall hearing the first words spoken after the Apollo 11 Lunar Module Eagle touched down on the surface of the moon?
It was July 20, 1969, when astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin made the historic landing. Engineers and NASA employees at Mission Control in Houston held their breath until they heard these momentous words: “The Eagle has landed.”
Sometimes eagles soar, like this famed spacecraft and the proud bird for which it was named. And at times, we do too—our emotions joyfully rising when a dream is realized, a long-desired job comes through, or a doctor speaks the welcome words, “The tumor is benign.”
A memorable passage in Isaiah 40 has encouraged God’s people for centuries:
He gives power to the weak and strength to the powerless.Even youths will become weak and tired, and young men will fall in exhaustion.But those who trust in the Lord will find new strength.They will soar high on wings like eagles.
It's fantastic when our faith takes flight.
When prayers are answered as we hoped they’d be.
When the prodigal comes home, the medical tests come back negative, the balance in our bank account comes up in the black.
And yet. . .
We’ve only to watch the news or our text feeds to know that many are struggling. War continues unabated around the globe. Millions of refugees are displaced.
Here in America, families are fractured by relational conflicts, cultural and political disagreements, racism, prejudice, fear of arrest.
Our spiritual ancestors knew that life’s challenges not only keep us grounded but often smash us face-first into the dirt. It’s intriguing that Hebrew poetry frequently uses a pattern called descending parallelism — starting with a vivid image, then a less vivid, then the least.
They will soar high on wings like eagles.
They will run and not grow weary.
They will walk and not faint. Isaiah 40:29-31
Wait—
What??!
Shouldn’t it be the other way ‘round? First, we walk, then we run, and finally aren’t we supposed to soar like eagles into the maturity of our faith?
Yet in God’s economy, the greatest sign of renewed strength is not dramatic flights of achievement and accomplishment, but the ability to keep walking faithfully.
My dear friend Lynn Eib, author of several insightful books encouraging those on the cancer journey, recently wrote about eagles in a way that has changed my thinking.
“Did you know that an eagle’s estimated 7,000 feathers are not fully waterproof? If they get saturated with too much moisture, these majestic birds actually get waterlogged and become aerodynamically unable to fly. And if this occurs when they’re on the water–perhaps fishing for prey which fights and pulls them under–the eagle doesn’t have the lift necessary to take off. So it must start swimming toward land as evidenced in the link to this amazing 9-second video.”
This determined eagle has taught me something. He was meant to fly, but at this moment he needed to swim instead.
As Lynn wrote, “Physically, some of us or our loved ones aren’t going to ‘soar’ again here on Earth, but I believe spiritually we all can be lifted above the turmoil.”
When we began this series about seizing the colors of joy several weeks ago, many of you remarked on my brother-in-law Peter’s reflection on the scripture that became his anchor during a very dark period in his life:
“I pray that God, the source of hope, will fill you completely with joy and peace because you trust in him. Then you will overflow with confident hope through the power of the Holy Spirit.” Romans 15:13 NLT
“If Hope were a color,” Pete wrote, “it would be purple. Hope is not a primary color like blue or red. I see Joy as the color red and Peace as the color blue. When you blend the two together you get a rich and vibrant purple of Hope.”
Red? Blue? Aren’t these the colors of our two primary political parties in America? An eagle has two wings. So does our noble national symbol.
Maybe the American eagle gets bogged down in conflict and controversy as it is now.
Maybe it’s not functioning as our founders intended.
Maybe at times it must swim rather than soar. Struggle rather than succeed.
But an eagle needs both its right and its left wings to function.
Red + Blue = Purple. The royal color. The color of Hope.
And if we love and forgive one another as our Creator intended, we the People of the United States can ensure the Eagle flies.
We the Purple—the people of Hope.
So much love,
Maggie
IT’S YOUR TURN. This space is a politics-free zone (you can thank me later), but how are you personally flying the banner of hope these days? Please let us know. I reply to each comment and email.
