The Flying V

The other day I was out in the middle of the country on my daily walk/run. As I strolled down this quite road, I could hear the birds coming from afar. As I watched them draw near, I witnessed a beautiful act of follow the leader – flying v formation.

Have you ever taken the time to watch birds fly? To watch how they fly in perfect v-formation?

As I kept my eye on the v, I caught a glimpe of the leader swerving from one side to the next, with his followers right behind. At one point, the leader swooped down, as did all the others. If you have ever seen the wave (done at big stadiums), imagine it flying v style. It was wonderous.

Following the Leader is hard at times. I think about God as being the head of our flying v – the v can consist of a family, the church, and each individual person playing a vital role in that v. Do we see ourselves as that? What was so beautiful about watching these birds was that when the leader took them on a swerving, swooping course, they followed right along.

How true is that in the Christian life? I think about the curves in the road that God has us on at times – those turns that we do not understand. Those curves that cause us to feel like we are losing control. We try to follow Christ as closely as we can, but when Christ takes us on a road that is unfamiliar, one we don’t want to go down, will we follow? I think of the hardships in life – those events that bring us to tears – those times when we feel out of control and wonder where God is leading – will we follow?

Watching a flock of birds follow each other reminds me too, of the church. There are those who have gone before us and those who are behind, cheering us on. The flying v – who knew there would be such a resemblance to the church? Where are you in the flying v? Are you encouraging others who are ahead of you, while being cheered on by those behind? Or maybe those behind need an encouraging word. It was a good reminder to always be looking around, leaving our eyes wide open to what God might be telling us.

While in flying v formation, just don’t forget to look at your leader first. It takes a lot of trust and you may not always know the path or journey He is taking you on, but He will always take you to the perfect destination – ours being Heaven. So simple an act – follow the leader, but how difficult to follow.