Learning to fly

Ryan is up, up and away this week ministering in the Philippines. As he took flight on this first official NNM trip, I thought it timely to talk about learning to fly.

I was watching a movie with the kids the other day. It was about a young boy that rescues an eaglet that has fallen from the nest. The basic storyline follows how the boy and eagle bond together through the summer season, the young boy teaches the eaglet to hunt, survive and fly so that he can survive on his own in the wild through the coming winter. While we were watching the movie I was reminded of a picture that God had given me about a year ago while in Hong Kong. The picture I saw was of an eagles nest that was becoming uncomfortable and eaglets instinctively knowing it was time to fly. I knew this was God speaking to me. The picture brought understanding to questions I was asking God about and I felt peace in my heart immediately, it’s hard to do it justice explaining it here, but I’m sure you may have had a similar experience to this. I instantly knew that God was in the season we were in. At that time, I was seeking God and feeling like I was in a wind tunnel not hearing anything, not knowing what to do, then, after I saw the picture, it was like I was immediately in stereo silence, I knew that I knew, that I knew!  The whirling and noise stopped, and I had clarity. He was IN the season, He was making the nest uncomfortable, we were the eaglets needing to prepare to fly. It turns out that this picture was really helpful in our transition from Hong Kong to Adelaide and beginning NNM. While I was watching the movie, I learned that an eagle learns to fly over a season by a series of exercises. They begin by practicing spreading their wings, flapping, jumping off low branches and growing day by day in strength and precision. They don’t start out looking like majestic creatures cruising up in the thermals, but instead they look rather glitchy, uncoordinated and clumsy. As with most movies, the learning to fly sequence was shown as a montage. Don’t you wish sometimes that our transformation seasons could be done in montage fashion? That we could speed up time and put it to a cool movie soundtrack and get to the good bits faster! But, It is for our benefit that we have time to practice and repeat the things we’ve learned until they become second nature, because the day is coming when we need to fly for real. I believe that our longevity in what we are called to do depends on the preparation season being walked through faithfully.

It is important to prepare well, but it’s equally important to fly when it’s time to fly. It is daunting to be on the edge, but it is the place to be when launching for flight. The preparation work and training has strengthened and conditioned our wings to be able to fly, we need to trust we can. We believe that our instincts have been sharpened and refined in everything we do, from doing the mundane to the magnificent, it’s all done with a dependance and connection with God and his Spirit. Consistently being faithful with the little nuances and the strong loud voice of God. In all the changes we’ve been through in this recent season, there has been purpose, training and exercising. Just like the eaglets, we have been in a season of preparation for flight. We have been practicing and honing our skills, now it’s time to fly!

My encouragement to you if you are in a season of preparation, is to trust God’s timing, you may not understand all the process right now, but as the season changes, you will know. Lean into God, be patient and rely on His perfect plan for you to unfold. If you are in a time of launching, you need to fly! It’s time to go. You cannot stay on the ledge anymore, you need to have faith that you have been prepared for such a time as this. It’s time to fly, go for it!

We hope that you have been encouraged by this, feel free to comment or share your story below

Love Kylie