Ministering The Egg Of The Phoenix

Mahatmas Gandhi once said, "Every living faith must have within itself the power of rejuvenation if it is to live"

Today is yet another one of those high-spirited days that reaffirm and sinew my great optimism that the love of the human spirit and the magnanimity that is inherent in the deepest region of all hearts alike will prevail over the challenging tides in the long run, as for the first time in more than 50 years, on Wednesday afternoon, a pair of bald eagles hatched a chick on Santa Cruz Island, thirty-five days after the egg was first discovered on this island off the coast of Southern California. This is the first successful, known nesting of a bald eagle on any one of the four northern Channel Islands since 1949, when a chick was born on Anacapa Island.



Bald eagles used to bristle the islands all along the California coast, but ever since the 1960's, when DDT poisoned and polluted their food chain, the populations suffered in result, as this now-banned pesticide had made the shells of their eggs brittle. The damage can still be seen and felt to this day, but this rousing story of birth today has strengthened the resolve of hope in my heart that the spirit, the essence of rejuvenation, remains very much alive in our global community today, and this successful breeding truly is a milestone in renewing and re-introducing bald eagles and other species to regions where they once flourished, that they can again eventually return to their days of previous glory. Deep down I can feel this fountainhead of rebirth and renewal, and though these remain sensitive times and there are undoubtedly other challenges we'll be tested with, this program that the Institute for Wildlife Studies began in 2002 is thriving, which receives money from a $25 million fund to deal with the lingering effects of tons of DDT dumped into the ocean, and this signal for rebirth, the egg of the phoenix, is boiling brightly with youth.



Another brass tack that makes me upbeat here is that most bald eagles are good, dedicated parents. Recently you may have heard of the inspiring story of the American Eagle Foundation late last month activating a new live eagle web-cam at Dollywood of Pigeon Forge, Tennessee, where the eagle parents Liberty (the ma) and Justice (the pa) have laid several new eggs already, and have already successfully raised and reared 13 of their own young for release into the wild since beginning in 1993. Eagles are very territorial and thus make effective defenders of the nest against other eagles and threats, and parenting eagles also spend a lot of time sending materials to the nest, usually beginning in March, the most common month for bald eagles to lay eggs, and the chicklings are usually born in April, staying in the nest until August, begin to balance on branches after turning 12 weeks old, then learning to fly but staying close to the nest, depending on parents for food until they become about half-a-year-old, when they begin foraging on their own. Also, with bald eagles faced with very few predatorial threats, eagles can be very resilient and strong.



In "Parables of a Province", Gilbert Parker wrote that "...for when a child is born the mother also is born again." Childhood and youth wouldn't only begin for the newborn, it also comes burning brightly again to the nurturer herself. Certainly, I have dreams sometimes of being married with my dream girl, and sometimes I see the silhouette of a young child skipping around with us, and because I see long hair waving in the child's silhouette, somehow I feel God is telling me that I will have a daughter in the future, and patience and staying true to my heart will lead me to her! :) Though I'm young and absolutely believe I must not rush ahead of myself and enjoy everything else until that day may come, parenthood truly is a magical time that gives a golden opportunity for mothers and fathers to experience childhood all over again in only a slightly different way, and the laughter singing from the hearts of children truly hits higher on the Endorphinator Scale than any other form of laughter, yay! (does happy jungle gym jitterbug)



I believe the best example we could set for our children is to unconditionally love our peers just as we love our lovers and children, and that is, I wholeheartedly believe, the ingredient of rejuvenation that could soldify every living faith! In taking that same fondness when you're staring at the photograph of your significant lover you're madly and spiritually in love with, and placing that same spirit into the whole world at large, I believe we could cleanse the world of our greatest griefs and sorrows, our own proverbial DDT, and recognize that indeed many of our finest days have yet to come. :) Even with war continuing to affect our planet, the poverty and apathy still affecting our children, as fragile as our environment is, it still takes only one week in spring just to coruscate six directions of green and billions of leaf-buds anywhere in the world, and because, like W. Earl Hall said, "science has never drummed up quite as effective a tranquilizing agent as a sunny spring day.", the force of rejuvenation and love conquers all others, and deep down, because we all have more in common than we do differences, April showers will always bring May flowers...and endorphins! :)



From vastless puddles of white violet, to clouds of snowdrop gumdrops speckling the pastry prairies, to Nature's royal residence lodged deep in the heart of each cabbage rose, to nunny ruckuses of ranunculus, let us take a chance on total happiness.....and pretend that spring is a way of being that spans all twelve months of the year.....and sleep wing-wide upon the air! :) Unless you're steamy TV "King of Queens" housewife Leah Remini putting on quite a slinky cage dance, the world is too dazzling and splendiforous to waste living in a birdcage! The bird is the word, lil' songbirds! :)

XOXO,
Noah Eaton
(Mistletoe Angel)
(Emmanuel Endorphin)