Did you know that an eagle prepares a nest for her young with their departure in mind?
She lays the foundation of the nest with hard sticks and smaller twigs. She then fills in the gaps with grass to make it cushiony. And if she can find it, she’ll use feathers and pieces of moss to create a final layer of comfort for her chicks.
But once the chicks are old enough to fly, she begins to take away the comfort of the nest. She’ll start by removing the feathers and the moss, and if that doesn’t motivate them to jump, she’ll take away the grass. She might take away some of the smaller twigs as one final motivation to get them to jump on their own. But finally, if the chicks still will not jump, she will push them out of the nest. She will let them fall almost to the ground, but right before they crash, she’ll swoop under them to catch them in the air.
If the eagle is going to soar, it has to experience discomfort.
Isn’t the same true for us?
If our organizations are going to thrive, we have to get comfortable being uncomfortable. And as individuals, we have to get out of our comfort zone in order to flourish.
When this global pandemic dissipates, things aren’t just going to return to normal. The way we do things will forever be changed by this crisis.
Will you be ready?
The way we do business will change. Now, we know what can be accomplished virtually, so more people may push to work remotely. And our customers’ expectations will change. Now that your restaurant is offering delivery, it’s going to be difficult (and possibly harmful to your business) to withdraw that service.
Churches will change. Some churches who have never offered online streaming are now live-streaming services. Once this is over, some people might push to keep the online option to allow homebound members to participate in the service each Sunday.
Your life at home will change. You’re establishing rhythms of spending intentional time with your family on a daily basis. If you suddenly try to swing back into your packed weekly schedule, there will be push-back, and you’ll have to figure out a new balance between being at home and being away.
Here’s the bottom line:
There is no flipping a switch back to normal after these days.
Difficult conversations, plans, and adjustments lie ahead of us. It’s OK to not have all of the answers right now. However, if we are going to thrive in the season that follows this one, we have to take that first step of getting comfortable being uncomfortable.
