Day #8 Reindeer and eagles! - The Lamp for my feet

When what to my wondering eyes should appear,
But a miniature sleigh, and eight tiny rein-deer,

Santa Clause is not the only one who loves the majestic reindeer!

I did a little research and learned not only do they live 15 years (20 in captivity), have a gestation period of 7.5 months, have expanding and shrinking hooves depending on the season, changing eye color, and LOVE to eat lichen, they have lots of tiny blood vessels around their nose to warm the air they are breathing. So Rudolph is not the only reindeer with a red nose! So fun to learn!

I found it fascinating that one of their predators is the eagle! I find this somewhat hard to believe, however I know that eagles have a wingspan of up to 7.5 feet.

It seems that the sheer size of the reindeer would be no match for the eagle. Flying overhead they seem so much smaller, but they have no qualms about attacking even adult reindeer and sinking their talons into them.

I went to bed last night thinking about this blog post and had a dream that a huge bird flew down to me, and when he got to me he was so big, like the eagle, I was afraid he was going to attack me.

I woke up and realized that we all have these “eagles” circling in our minds and our lives that seem far off and non-threatening, then they come close to us and try sinking their talons into our life.

There are so many things of this world that don’t want a God-centered focus or a Christian in the way of the enemy’s agenda because it is at odds with God’s ultimate plan, which will succeed.

Some of these elements we experience are negative people who want to crush our happiness or situations we have created for ourselves or simply stumbled into that have ill intent for our lives.

Perhaps it is the objects that we keep around us that bring bad memories or have ungodly origins. Could it be the idols we worship that we don’t want to recognize as taking the place of God in our lives?

We keep them far away or minimize their intentions until they swoop down close and circle us, looking for the opportunity to attack.

What are the eagles in your life? What do we do about it?

Christmas is a time when we can reframe and refocus the influences in our lives. As Christians, many things of this world want to take us down, quiet our voices, silence our opinions, and stamp out anything that points to God or honors worship of God.

If we take a cue from Santa, we can stand strong in fellowship with our brothers and sisters in Christ who will pray for us and encourage us and let God lead us through the dark and stormy night that is this life.

We can take a cue from Rudolph, and hold up our head high so the light of our bright shining faith pierces the darkness of this world and leads others through the night to our eternal home in heaven.

Although they may laugh and call us names, they will shout with glee when they come to know the saving grace of our merciful savior who was born into this world to pay the price for their sin, while they were yet sinners.

Pray for the eagles of this world, and that God would hide you under His great wings of protection and teach you how to respond in love and shine bright for him at Christmas and all year long!