First Flight
By Robin Volker

Dear Unity Friends,

As Rick and I walked along a walking path in Ozona, Florida, on our recent vacation, we looked up and there atop a flat platform on a utility pole was a humongous nest.  On the edge of the nest perched a young Osprey being encouraged to fly by its mom, who sat a few inches away on the edge of the platform.   Baby Osprey was protesting the upcoming flight.   Perhaps, previously, it had practiced flying by jumping up and down in the nest until the wind caught its wings.   Today, maybe there was not enough of a breeze to give it assurance that it could indeed fly.   Can you imagine how scary that first flight must seem to a young bird, hawk and sparrow alike?   We have all experienced similar fear.   At one time or another, we have stood on the edge of what was known, looked out over what was unknown, and knew we had to try, although we might not want to or know how we would succeed.

Momma Osprey seemed detached from the baby's insistent complaining and protests.   She calmly sat there, giving silent encouragement, surveying the world below to ward off any predators that might interfere with her flying lesson.  She knew that the very survival for both her and her young depended on her not relinquishing to the young one's cries to continue to feed it.  We humans would call the avoided behavior "co-dependency."  Not only is the lesson here one of spreading our wings and leaping into the unknown, but also a lesson can be learned from Mom Osprey who knew she could not take care of her baby forever.   He or she must learn to fly and fish and build its own nest and raise its own babies and avoid predators and live its own beautiful, exciting life.   This is why she, herself, had mated and built the nest and laid the eggs and fed the young one through these past 10 weeks – to give it a chance at life – not on her terms, but on its own terms.   If Mom had any fear that the wind would not catch her baby's wings and lift it up to soar above the trees, she gave no indication of it.   Her instinct was one of trust – trust in the process of the life she knew, and that meant that Osprey could fly - that meant her baby Osprey could and would fly too.  

This week, whether you are on the verge of a new launch for yourself or you are the one who must be cool and composed as someone you love launches forth into a new adventure, know that God in you is like the instinct in the Osprey.   It is true.  It is real.   It is solid.   Have faith in that Truth.  God is with you in all things.   Nature teaches us to be in this moment, to strive for the next step or the next flight.   I am sure the fear was real for the young Osprey, but it didn't keep it from flying.   And Momma Osprey trusted her instinct to insist that her young one fly.   Only a few minutes later the nest was empty as Mom and Baby took off to soar the coastal thermals with Dad and Brother. 

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