m, flings them out of the
nest. They were so comfortable there, but she flings them right out of
the nest, high above the earth. They begin to fall straightway. They
never have been in air before; they have always been in the nest.

Is not that mother bird cruel? Why does she disturb the eaglets?

Watch her and you will understand. As long as you look upon the
struggling eaglets in the air you miss the point. Watch the eagle.
Having stirred up her nest, "she spreadeth abroad her pinions," the
pinions that beat the air behind her as she rises superior to it. Where
are the eaglets? Struggling, falling; she is superior; they are falling.
Then what does she do? "She beareth them on her pinions." She swoops
beneath them, catches them on her wings, and bears them up. What is she
doing? Teaching them to fly. She drops them again, and again they
struggle in the air, but this time not so helplessly. They are finding
out what she means. She spreads her pinions to show them how to fly, and
as they fall again, she catches them again. That is how God deals with
you and me.

Has he been stirring up your nest? Has he flung you out until you feel
lost in an element that is new and strange? Look at him. He is not lost
in that element. He spreads out the wings of omnipotence to teach us how
to soar. What then? He comes beneath us and catches us on his wings. We
thought when he flung us out of the nest it was unkind. No; he was
teaching us to fly that we might enter into the spirit of the promise,
"They shall mount up with wings as eagles." He would teach us how to
use the gifts which he has bestowed on us, and which we can not use as
long as we are in the nest.

Fancy keeping eaglets in the nest! It is contrary to their nature,
contrary to the purposes for which they are framed and fitted. There is
a purpose in the eagle. What is it! Flight upward. There is a purpose in
your life, new-born child of God! What is it? Flight Godward, sunward,
heavenward. If you stop in the nest you will never get there. God comes
into your life and disturbs you, breaks up your plans, and extinguishes
your hopes, the lights that have lured you on. He spoils everything;
what for? That he may get you on his wings and teach you the secret
forces of your own life, and lead you to the higher development and
higher purposes. The government of God is a disturbing element, but,
praise his name! it is a progressive element.

SOME THINGS YOU SHOULD NOT DO.