Soar!

 But those who trust in the Lord will renew their strength; they will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary; they will walk and not faint. Isaiah 40:31

In reading the verse above, there are two words I want to examine more closely. Those words are soar and eagles. To soar means to fly and rise above. Eagles are powerful birds that can be spotted flying in the sky as well as sitting high on the tree branch. We'll talk a little later about different characteristics of eagles. Eagles do soar, but so can we as humans. When we soar, it means we go above and beyond to help others or complete a task at hand. We can soar above whatever challenging situation comes our way. Soaring requires us to be different and usually do something we've never done before. Soaring will require us to step out of the box. Doing something new and different can be scary, but the only way we can begin to soar is to step out and try. Think about the first time you rode your bike, spoke in front of people, met a new person, played an instrument or sport. I'm sure you didn't get it right the first time, but you kept trying. Now you can look back at it and see how much you have overcome and accomplished. In order to soar, there are three things we must do. We must see ourselves soaring, say what God says about us and step into action. Seeing ourselves soaring first starts in our thoughts. Our thoughts are very powerful. Proverbs 23: 7 says, "For as he thinks in his heart, so is he." We can't allow negative thoughts to stay in our mind. When they do try to come, we are responsible for knocking them down with the Word of God. That's why it is so important to study the Word for ourselves. Philippians 4:8 tells us exactly what we should be thinking about. We have to think about the Word and see ourselves doing great things, as well as great things happening for us. You see, the eagle has excellent eyesight. They have big eyes that are located on the side of their head. However, they can see straight ahead and spot danger and prey from far away. We need to be able to spot that negativity quick. The next thing we need to do in order to soar is to say what God says about us. We have to speak what we can do. Philippians 4:13 says, "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me." We need to speak good things over ourselves and acknowledge progress. We also need to speak good things over others and leave them better than we found them. Let's give sincere compliments and encouraging words. Eagles are one of the most powerful birds in the world and are a symbol of freedom and power. We can speak with power too! The last thing we need to do to soar is to step into action. As mentioned earlier, right thoughts and words are good, but they need to lead to right actions. We need to make sure we are doing our best everywhere- at school, on the sports team, at the job, with our families, at our church, in our community. Whatever task or assignment we have, we need to do our best to complete it. We need to look for ways to encourage and support others. When eagles hunt, they hunt in pairs, so there are at least two of them. Eagles know how to stick together and we should too. When eagles soar, their feathers spread out like fingers and bend at the tip. They reach out like we should be doing! So let's remember that we need to soar daily in our thoughts, words and actions. Just like the eagle, we can rise above our situations, think and speak powerfully and keep looking ahead. We can know that the best is yet to come!