One day Haley was in the forest with the rest of the kids, and they did not see anything new. They were disappointed because this was the first day that they did not have any adventures that they could tell Joe at the end of the day. Joe always listened to their adventures and taught them a lesson about God based on their adventures in nature. The kids wondered what Joe would teach them today if they did not have any adventures. The kids were bored, so they started daring each other to do cartwheels, summersaults, and handstands. They were having fun until they dared Haley to do three cartwheels in a row! The first two cartwheels were perfect, but in the middle of the last cartwheel Haley lost her balance and fell into some bushes and weeds! When she stood up, she was covered with burrs! The burrs were all over her clothes and a bunch of them were in her hair! She took most of the burrs off her clothes, but she could not get them out of her hair! The more she tried to take the burrs out, the more her hair got tangled in the burrs!
The kids took Haley back to the farm and told Joe about her misadventure. Joe had Haley sit on the ground by his chair and he told Haley that he would try to get all the burrs out of her hair; if he could not get them out, then they would have to cut them out with scissors. Joe was very careful and tried not to pull her hair, but it still hurt.
Meanwhile, the rest of the kids were playing in the yard. They were playing catch with a ball, and still doing cartwheels, but they looked very carefully for burrs before they did a cartwheel! After the kids got tired of playing, they came over to Joe and Haley and sat on the ground by them. One of the kids noticed that the bald eagles were flying above the farm, gliding, and soaring on the wind currents.
While Joe was working on Haley’s hair, he began to teach the kids more about eagles and more about God.
Joe told the kids that bald eagles sometimes play catch with sticks. When a female bald eagle is 4-5 years old, she is ready to make a nest and start a family, so she looks for a mate. She takes a stick and flies close to a male eagle and tosses the stick toward him. If the male eagle already has a wife, he ignores the stick and lets it fall to the ground. If the male eagle is too young and not ready to start a family, he does not know what to do, and he does not catch the stick. If the male eagle does not have a mate, and is ready to start a family, he dives after the stick, catches the stick and he and the female eagle begin to build the nest. Bald eagles build very large nests, and they need a lot of sticks to build a sturdy nest. The female and the male eagle work together to make a good nest where they will raise their family.
To show their commitment to each other, the male and female bald eagles will ‘cartwheel’ together. They will fly high into the air together (eagles can fly up to 10,000 feet in the air), then they lock their talons together spin round and round as they fall towards the ground! Just before hitting the ground, they break apart and soar away! Bald eagles’ mate for life, but they spend the winter in different places. Each spring they meet near their nest and celebrate their commitment to each other by cartwheeling.
Bald eagles are faithful to each other as long as they both are alive. We also need to be faithful when we get married.
In the Bible in Matthew 19:5-6 Jesus said:
And He said, “’This explains why a man leaves his father and mother and is joined to his wife, and the two are united into one.’ Since they are no longer two but one, let no one split apart what God has joined together.”
The kids agreed with Joe and said that they planned on getting married and staying married the rest of their lives, just like God had planned, but they were also confused and scared. They had seen so many people get divorced and some of them had even had their parents get divorced. They asked Joe how they could have a good marriage that lasts. Joe told them that he could not see the future or predict the future, but he knew that the first step is prayer. Each person needs to pray and ask God to guide them to the right person, and then be patient and wait for God to bring that person into their life.
Each of the kids can begin to practice faithfulness now by being faithful with our friends. When a person is your friend, you should always be faithful to them. Too many times we drop a friend whenever we have a disagreement with that person. That is not the way a friendship should work; when times are difficult, true friends will stay faithful to each other. True friends can even confront the other person and tell them the truth even when it hurts.
In the Bible in Proverbs 27:6 it says:
Wounds from a sincere friend are better than many kisses from an enemy.
Of course, the best example of being faithful is Jesus. He is faithful to believers even when we are having the worst day of our lives.
In the Bible in Deuteronomy 31:8 it says:
Do not be afraid or discouraged, for the Lord will personally go ahead of you. He will be with you; he will neither fail you nor abandon you.
In the Bible in Proverbs 18:24 it says:
There are “friends” who destroy each other, but a real friend sticks closer than a brother.
Each of you need to ask God to help you to be that kind of friend now, and when you are old enough to get married, ask God to help you to be faithful always to the person you are married to.
Just as Joe finished talking to the kids, the bus was coming down the driveway to take them back to town, and Joe had just finished taking the last of the burrs out of Haley’s hair! It had been a good day after all!