You must know who you are

A farmer once caught a young eagle in the forest, brought it home, and raised it among his chickens and turkeys. Five years later, a naturalist came to visit him and saw the bird. “That’s an eagle, not a chicken!” he said. “Yes,” said the farmer, “but I’ve raised it to be a chicken.” The naturalist said, “It has a wingspan of fifteen feet. It’s an eagle!” The farmer said, “But it will never fly.” The naturalist disagreed, and they decided to put their argument to the test. First, the naturalist picked up the eagle and said, “Thou art an eagle; thou dost belong in the sky and not to this earth; stretch forth thy wings and fly.” The eagle saw the chickens and jumped down. The next day, the naturalist took the eagle to the top of the house, said the same thing, and let the eagle go. Again, it spotted the chickens below and fluttered down to join them in feeding. “One more try,” said the naturalist. He took the eagle up a mountain. The trembling bird looked around, and then the naturalist made it look into the sun. As he spoke its true identity once more, suddenly the eagle stretched out its wings, gave a mighty screech, and flew away, never to return. You must know who God created and called you to be. And that takes place in the right environment, in the right company, and with the right input – God’s input! “He has created us anew in Christ Jesus…[to] do the good things He planned for us.”