57- The Cost of Maturity

When a cub grows a little, the lion captures a deer and brings it to his cub. He leaves the deer in front of the cub so that the two would engage in a fight. The lion watches the struggle between them and if he sees the deer beating the cub with a dangerous blow, he interferes quickly and saves his cub. From this fight, the cub learns to go with his father on hunting and to attack the prey. When the cub grows and matures, he leaves his father and leads his own mature life.

This is an image of maturity; the cub is not left in the lion’s cave to play continuously. Rather, he enters into a struggle by which he learns and gradually reaches maturity.

In the same way, the eagle teaches his young how to fly. The eagle carries his young with his beak and flies to the heights thousands of feet above. The eagle then lets the young go. The young as a result, struggles with its weak wings to fly. Yet when the young starts to fall, the eagle flies under the young, extends its wings and carries it. The eagle, then, picks up its young with his beak one more time and repeats the same lesson over and over again until the young learns to fly. Then, the eagle leaves it to fly alone and to pursue its own mature life.

We can say that God, in His kind paternity, wants us to get mature. He said to us,

This is the road of My love and My continuous care for you.

 I leave you sometimes but I extend My wings under you

And pick you up that you may not fall.

I want you to learn to fly.

I raise you up high but I don’t leave you alone.

Don’t be a child in faith forever.

Rather, reach the maturity of righteousness.

This is the experience of the singer saying, “Don’t leave me until the end.” For he feels that God carries him to the heights and leaves him but for a moment to carry him again until he learns how to fly.

→ English translation of the story here at St-Takla.org: تكلفة النضوج!

God, I often crave for the immature roads of childhood.

I want to rest and play continuously.

And You in Your fatherhood get me into a war against Satan, You the Lion.

You want me not to remain a small cub but to become a strong lion.

Carry me up high.

Teach me with Your Holy Spirit how to fly.

Do not let me rest in the nest but soar high in the sky.

The Sad Artist

Short Stories (Stories for the Youth) Books by Father Tadros Yacoub Malaty

Race in Love