Article December 8, 1997 Issue

Ladies and gentlemen, enjoy your flight!

Clark Gary Rogers

Do you ever wish you could soar like a bird, even if just for one quick spin over your house? Thinking about birds recently, I was surprised to find how many different kinds are mentioned in the Bible and what lovely qualities are usually associated with them. The eagle, for example, is coupled with strength (see Isa. 40:31); the mother hen with protection (see Matt. 23:37); the sparrow with God's care (see Luke 12:6).

I was also delighted to find this comment about birds in Science and Health in a chapter that interprets the beginning of the Bible's book of Genesis. It states, "The fowls, which fly above the earth in the open firmament of heaven, correspond to aspirations soaring beyond and above corporeality to the understanding of the incorporeal and divine Principle, Love" (pp. 511-512). How wonderful to think of birds as symbols of our spiritual aspirations, naturally rising higher and higher until they're beyond mortal view, and certainly beyond fear.

I used to be terrified of flying, but I was freed from that fear as I began to realize that, as a favorite hymn says, "Everlasting arms of Love / Are beneath, around, above" (Christian Science Hymnal, No. 53). It became increasingly clear to me that if we board our airplanes (or cars, or trains, or boats) with a strong consciousness of God's presence—of divine Love's protection, of divine Mind's direction and control—then our travel is governed by God's law, not by the elements, by chance, or by another's ability or skill.

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