The Albatross' Heart

I am spending time with my Parents this week and next week.  My Dad has recently had back surgery and we are working now on getting back up and walking.  It’s not easy and he is seeing a side of me that I am sure doesn’t make him too happy.  I am making him work......I am asking him to do things that feel clumsy and awkward and like most strong-willed people, he becomes easily frustrated.  

We were out yesterday doing a short walk that felt like a mile for him, but was only just down the block.  As we were coming up the curb, somehow we began to talk about the Albatross.  It was most likely that my Dad was feeling that place of frustration that his body just wasn’t going as fast or as smoothly as he would like it to.  In his mind he should be doing his normal routine, which may not be quick but is certainly easier than right at that moment.  

His story is taking a turn in a way he didn’t anticipate of necessarily envision.  The way that our stories are connecting is also new for us both.  But in that moment on the curb, while my Dad was struggling and without even knowing it, he spoke into my heart and changed a picture in my mind as well as my perspective of my own story.

There was a time in my life when I related very closely with the Albatross. Those around me were moving forward like eagles, I was struggling to feel in any way other than awkward and clumsy.  Much like the bird, my take-offs and landings left a great deal to be desired and were a source of humor that didn’t always encourage my heart to take off and try again.

All I could see was my lack of ability in the take off and the landing part of the process.  My inability to say the right thing and the right time..... Those awkward pauses when I wasn’t sure where to go with my thoughts or connect those thoughts to words that actually made sense coming out of my mouth.  I am sure that I am not the only one out there who struggles getting the words out to convey what’s going on in your mind.  Don’t you just wish that you had something hooked up that could translate your minds picture into words without having to actually say it?

What my Dad said to me when I spoke in a negative way about the Albatross was this- 

“They may be awkward and clumsy in the take-off and landing, but have you ever seen the way that those birds can fly?  They are amazing...”  My Dad then began to tell me actual facts about the Albatross that I didn’t know.

Did you know that 

they pair up for life.......

• Wandering and royal (‘great’) albatrosses have the largest wingspans of any bird in the world, reaching up to 3.5m (11ft).
• Albatrosses are among the largest flying birds, weighing up to 25 lbs.
• Albatrosses are miracles of nature’s engineering – their long, narrow wings enable them to glide for thousands of miles on wind currents without flapping their wings.
• Simply by angling their wings and their flight path, albatrosses can use the variation in air speed and direction near the waves to soar over the oceans. This phenomenon is called dynamic soaring. This soaring is incredibly efficient, requiring less energy than sitting on a nest. 
• Albatrosses are the great ocean wanderers, often flying thousands of kilometres on a single trip to feed their chick. The Wandering albatross flies up to 6,250 miles to find food for its chick.
• A grey-headed albatross from South Georgia has been recorded circumnavigating the globe in a mere 46 days!
• Albatrosses pair for life and take many years to find a new mate if their partner is killed – if they find a new partner at all.
• Nature intended the albatross to be long-lived: they live to 60 years and beyond. 
• Once albatross chicks fledge, they do not return to land for many years. In the case of ‘great’ albatrosses this may be up to 5 years, but they may not start breeding until they up to 10 years old.

Maybe the Albatross isn’t so comfortable on land, but it is definitely comfortable in flight.   Being in the air for so long makes the land less of a home, than the open sky.  And being that large of a bird means that you just need more space to be comfortable and a longer runway to plant yourself.  

I have a new appreciation for this amazing bird and for why I identify so strongly with it.  I have a feeling that we all have moments where we feel awkward and clumsy.  Most of the time it happens when we are first learning to fly.  However, I have a feeling that even the most skilled flyers, even the eagles, can have moments when they struggle to achieve “lift-off” in perfect form.  When they look at the landing pad and think, “this is going to be ugly...”

In those moments I want to encourage you to let go of the need to have it all look perfect or go as originally planned.  Let your wings open up and find the hidden currents. Have an “albatross moment” and let go.  It’s in those moments that we will discover it’s not always about what it looks like, it’s about what’s in our hearts that matter most.  It’s the desire to fly and the willingness to looked a bit awkward in the process.  

Love doesn’t look at the awkwardness.  It looks at the potential for flight in the one who is trying.  Love meets awkwardness in it’s most vulnerable moment and encourages flight.  Sometimes I am an Eagle, but if I am meant to be an Albatross, well... that’s perfectly fine with me.  I have new information about my own identity thanks to my Dad words and my Father in Heaven’s love and grace.