Episode Transcript
[00:00:14] Hello, friend, and welcome to Imagine the Possibilities.
[00:00:18] Skip here. And I just want to say thanks for joining me today.
[00:00:24] Some of the most meaningful lessons in our lives don't come from books or classes or even conversations with other people.
[00:00:35] Sometimes they come quietly for moments we never expected to matter.
[00:00:42] Oftentimes they come when we realized what just happened.
[00:00:47] This is about one of those just happened moments for me. And it all started with eagles.
[00:00:59] Over the last 10 years or so, there were many days where I spent time watching webcams of eagle nest.
[00:01:09] My wife did the same thing.
[00:01:11] And we were both fortunate that the area we live in, there are places where we can go and actually observe eagles in real life.
[00:01:26] There's something calming about doing those things, something grounding.
[00:01:33] There's just something about watching life unfold exactly the way it was designed to do.
[00:01:41] Now eagles mate for life.
[00:01:45] When the female lays an egg, she does most of the incubation.
[00:01:52] However, the male will help at times.
[00:01:56] Most of the time, the female will only lay two eggs.
[00:02:01] And for the most part, after the eggs have hatched, until they leave the nest, the eaglets are raised by both the female and the male.
[00:02:17] There's one nest in particular, located in southwest Florida that I really enjoyed watching.
[00:02:26] It had a female eagle named Harriet and a male named M15.
[00:02:33] And those two were raising two eaglets known simply as E7 and E8.
[00:02:43] After a while, I still felt like I was just watching, just observing, or at least I thought I was.
[00:02:58] Somewhere along the way, I crossed an invisible line.
[00:03:04] Without realizing it, I stopped being an observer and I started becoming emotionally invested.
[00:03:16] I started putting human traits on the eaglets.
[00:03:25] I attached concern, I attached preference, and I attached human emotion to something that was never meant to carry it.
[00:03:42] The thing was that I became especially fond of E8.
[00:03:48] And that's where this story really begins.
[00:03:53] I was watching the eaglets and the parents. One night, parents were setting up in the area where they roost to keep an eye on the eaglets and everything.
[00:04:04] And the eaglets were moving around and I guess with my human emotion placement, they looked like they were having fun, but they were trying to sleep.
[00:04:17] And all of a sudden, a great horned owl attacked the nest.
[00:04:23] And the first strike nearly knocked both eaglets off their perch.
[00:04:29] Now, I thought that was the end of it.
[00:04:32] But the owl circled around and made a second pass.
[00:04:37] On that second pass, he knocked E8 off the branch.
[00:04:43] Remember, E8's my favorite eaglet.
[00:04:46] He fell to the ground and in all likelihood was injured.
[00:04:53] And then he simply disappeared.
[00:04:56] Now, in the moment that happened, attaching human traits to something it wasn't meant to be. I felt fear.
[00:05:06] I was angry.
[00:05:09] And I had this deep sense that something was terribly wrong, that what happened to E8 was wrong.
[00:05:21] Now, for nearly a week, people searched and didn't see E8.
[00:05:27] Now, I kind of gave up hope that they were going to find him alive.
[00:05:37] But there were some young women in Florida that refused to give up the search.
[00:05:44] And they actually found E8 and he was injured and they took him to the center for rehabilitation of wildlife, CROW for short.
[00:05:56] Now, E8 had a broken leg and he was dehydrated and he had cuts and bruises and abrasions on, but he was alive.
[00:06:09] Crow nursed him back to health, and they eventually released him back into the wild.
[00:06:16] He was able to fly and everything's fine.
[00:06:20] I felt relief.
[00:06:23] What I didn't realize yet was something else had taken root in me.
[00:06:30] I did keep watching eagle nest cameras, but something I felt like I was seeing more and more great horned owls, more attacks and more threats.
[00:06:43] Later, I realized something important that has a name.
[00:06:50] It's called frequency illusion.
[00:06:54] When something captures our attention, it suddenly feels like it's everywhere.
[00:07:02] I don't know if you've ever had this happen. I'll give you a good example of frequency illusion.
[00:07:08] One of the first new cars I bought was a red car.
[00:07:13] And when I drove off the lot, it seemed like everyone was driving a red car.
[00:07:22] Frequency illusion.
[00:07:24] It's the same thing with the great Horned owl and the eagles.
[00:07:29] Fact is, the world didn't change.
[00:07:32] Nature didn't change.
[00:07:35] What changed was what my mind was focused on the great horned owl.
[00:07:43] Over time, my dislike for the great horned owl grew.
[00:07:49] Then one day, I found a live camera focused on a great horned owl sitting on its own nest.
[00:07:59] As. As I watched it, without realizing it, I said out loud, I hate that bird.
[00:08:11] I hate great horned owls.
[00:08:14] What good are they?
[00:08:16] Why would anyone want to watch them?
[00:08:21] The moment that those words left my mouth, I stopped.
[00:08:28] I turned off my computer and I thought about what I just said.
[00:08:36] Reflections oftentimes give us the clarity we so desperately need.
[00:08:41] And this was one of those times.
[00:08:45] Here's the strange part.
[00:08:49] I knew that owl was simply doing what nature intended it to do.
[00:08:55] Survive and propagate the species.
[00:08:59] I didn't hate eagles when they killed squirrels. And I like squirrels. I had a pet squirrel growing up.
[00:09:06] Or when they killed fish or even other birds.
[00:09:11] I only hated the owl a wee bit later, during one of my morning conversations with Jesus, my quiet time with My friend.
[00:09:24] We talked about how I had developed this hate for one of his creatures, the great horned owl.
[00:09:33] The response I got from Jesus was just one word, why?
[00:09:41] That question both caught me off guard and forced me to slow down.
[00:09:52] I realized I saw the owl as different, and I treated that difference as justification for my hate.
[00:10:04] I was so focused on my perceived differences and what separated the owl from the eagle that I failed to understand what they had in common.
[00:10:18] Both were doing the same thing.
[00:10:20] Both were surviving.
[00:10:22] Both were living exactly as they were created to live.
[00:10:28] When I finally saw the similarities, the hate began to dissolve.
[00:10:36] That's when I understood the real lesson.
[00:10:41] This wasn't about owls and it wasn't about eagles.
[00:10:48] It was truly about how easily we move from liking to disliking to hate.
[00:10:58] And it was about how often that journey begins when we focus on differences instead of similarities.
[00:11:11] Think about that.
[00:11:13] Two creatures, two of God's creatures, doing the same thing, trying to survive and propagate the species, what they were designed to do.
[00:11:26] Yet I at one point grew hatred for one of them and not the other, when the fact is what they were both doing was similar.
[00:11:38] Why they were both here was similar.
[00:11:42] Now I believe Jesus allowed me to learn this lesson safely through something that couldn't be hurt by my emotions.
[00:11:54] And he did that before showing me how easily the same thing can happen with people.
[00:12:02] Here's the part I want you to really think about.
[00:12:06] In life, it's okay to like some people more than others.
[00:12:13] Some people will be friends, some people colleagues, some people acquaintances.
[00:12:23] And all the other people are simply fellow human beings.
[00:12:30] What's not okay is hating someone because of a difference, a perceived difference we believe separates us.
[00:12:41] I believe spiritually, I believe we're all created equal and we're all created in God's image.
[00:12:50] I also believe that Jesus died on the cross and he did so for every one of us, past, present and future.
[00:13:02] I also believe that if we want a better world, we have to work at removing hate from both our vocabulary and our lives.
[00:13:15] And we have to replace it with love.
[00:13:19] We have to start looking for similarities and quit focusing on differences.
[00:13:27] And we have to want the best for not only every person we meet, but every person on this planet.
[00:13:39] Love isn't passive.
[00:13:41] It's practiced daily.
[00:13:46] Just think about this.
[00:13:48] I mean, I went over a reasonably short period of time from loving something to hating a specific thing because of its differences.
[00:14:08] When the eagle and owl in my example had hundreds if not thousands of similarities, they were both doing the same thing.
[00:14:24] And we got to remember that.
[00:14:27] Anyway, until next time, stay humble, be kind, love unconditionally, and laugh often.
[00:14:41] Remember that your future belongs to you.
[00:14:45] And never forget this.
[00:14:49] You're enough.
[00:14:51] You're worthy, and you're seen.
[00:14:56] And I've said it before, and I'll say it again.
[00:15:00] I believe each. Each of us is capable of accomplishing remarkable things.
[00:15:08] As always, I wish you much success.
[00:15:12] Have a super day, and may God bless you in a super way.
[00:15:21] Thanks again and God bless.
[00:15:33] Sam.
