There once was an eagle’s nest on the top of a mountain. One of the eagle eggs rolled out of the nest, rolled down the mountain and it landed in a nest of birds. When all the eggs in the nest hatched and little chicks were born, the eagle’s egg hatched as well. And so the little eagle was born.

This eagle was raised among the chickens. Like the chickens, he would peck all day and walk around looking for little kernels of grain. This eagle didn’t know his true identity. He thought he was a chicken, so he acted like a chicken. In fact, he believed he was a chicken because that is how he was raised.

One day, the mother eagle flew down the mountain and scooped up her little baby. “Get on my back, son,” she said.

The two soared higher and higher back to the peak of the mountain. The baby eagle, who had the mindset of the chickens he was raised with, said to his mother, “How am I going to survive on the top of this mountain? There’s no place for me to walk around. There’s no place to peck and find the kernels of grain.  I’m trapped here.”

The mother eagle soothed her baby. “No, my son. You are not a chicken; you’re an eagle with a great wingspan that can carry you in flight to the highest heights and throughout the land, where you will find food in abundance and grow to be a great eagle in harmony with your surroundings and the other eagles in it.”

There’s a message to be learned from the eagle who thought he was a chicken. God made you the way you are so you can soar to great heights. Aim high and never doubt your purpose.

Adapted by Susan Diamond
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