“This reference to the eagle brings to our mind the following story. The eagle builds her nest of thorns and then covers the thorns with the softest and downiest substances that she can find, until the nest is soft and cozy for the eaglets. When they are hatched, she feeds, nourishes and cares for them until they are full grown. Then the eaglets are lazy and wish to remain in the nest to be cared for and fed; but the old eagle has made provisions that they shall not remain in the nest.
She pulls out the soft material that covers the thorns and lets the breasts of the eaglets down on the hard thorns and transforms their bed of down into a bed of thorns. Then they are forced out upon the edge of the nest and as their wings have never been tried they are filled with fear lest they fall, but the old eagle pushes them off and they are forced to fly; but when she sees that they are weary and begin to fall, she sweeps under them and bears them upon her wings until they are rested; then she drops them upon their own wings; and they are forced to support themselves wholly. Thus, she continues to drill them, until they can mount up into the sky, into the glories of the sunlight.
In the past we have been provided for and lovingly cared for by the Divine Father-Mother, and this loving care is continued until the time comes that we receive the command: “Son, go work in my vineyard.” Then comes the trial. Oh how hard it seems. We have been so carefully cared for in all the past; we want to lie still, to be loved, and to be petted, and nourished by the Divine Father-Mother, but God pulls out the down from under us, and we are let down upon the hard thorns of a physical existence. We feel the thorns in our breast, and we are forced to make the effort.
Then he sends his angels, that manifest themselves through controlling circumstances, and we are actually thrown out of our former nesting place. How frightened we are! We feel that we shall certainly fall to destruction, but a loving hand is under us when we are about to fall and we are upheld. But the nest has gone. We can never return to it; the old conditions have passed away; they have gone forever; there is nothing left for us but God – the Elohim – and association with his angels.
Some may refuse to go and may die, pass out of the body; but they do not escape by this means, for they will soon be brought back into another body, and into similar conditions that existed before, and the one and only way is before them. They must go forward; there is no retrogression in this life. God’s word (nature’s laws) must be obeyed, but with him, time is nothing. If his word is not obeyed in one lifetime, it must be obeyed in another.”
Hiram Butler
The Mark Of God: Understanding Your "I AM Presence" 