You shall mount up on wings like eagles

It is hard to fly with eagles when you are working with turkeys.

So goes one of those 'pithy' sayings (which I think gives some comfort when life is being particularly annoying).  It refers to an Isaiah text
"Even youths will faint and be weary, and the young will fall exhausted;
but those who wait for the LORD whall renew their strength,
they shall mount up with wings like eagles,
they shall run and not be weary,
they shall walk and not faint."  Isa40.30-31

I have often used this text at the funeral of an elderly person who has persevered - through personal tragedy or the long drawn out dying that is the path for some.  In the face of circumstances that would crush many, these believers were able to put one foot in front of the other, one day after the next, and continue to hold fast to the hope that lies in the promises of Jesus Christ.

It only takes an hour with a 3 year old to realize that this text is contradictory - as is so much of the God/humankind relationship.  Young people are stronger than the elderly.  It is the young who can run those long races and still have energy left. 

But relationships require much more than simple physical strength.  Relationships require strength of character, commitment, ability to forgive, vision for tomorrow....  Folks who have been married for a half century will tell you that true love isn't found in the romantic or sentimental, but it is found in the cracks of life, in the hard places.  If you can't take the heat of life's kitchen, you will flee in the face of life's trials and blows. 

Walking with God requires a greater degree of trust than any human relationship.  Yet it promises that, should we hold on and persevere, we will walk with God.  Either that promise is good enough for you or it is not. 

Those who wait for the LORD...........may you mount up with eagles.