Aesop was born a slave in Phrygia, a country of Asia minor during the golden age of Greece. He learned to read and write and won his freedom by means of his wit and skill with words.

His name means “Eternal voice” or “Timeless word”.

He wrote several fables that you are probably familiar with. He wrote the goose that laid the golden egg. He wrote the tortoise and the hare. He wrote the boy who cried wolf. He also wrote one that is not as well known called the Eagle and the Arrow.

There are different versions you can read. This is my favorite version:

One day a bowman saw an eagle in the sky. Quickly he notched an arrow and sent it whizzing after the bird. It found it’s mark and the eagle felt itself wounded to death. As it slowly fluttered to earth, it saw that the arrow which had pierced it’s breast was fitted with one of his own feathers.

With added grief he looked at the end of the shaft which bore his own feather, that drove the arrow through his heart and drank his last ounce of blood.

Alas, said he, tis an added grief, with my own feather I am slain.

I have plumed my own destruction.

Most of us know that a young eagle must plume himself to become mature. If the eagle does not pull his baby feathers he will never grow into a full grown eagle. Aesop realized thousands of years ago that the things we discard to grow and mature can potentially be the arrow of destruction.

He plucked the feather to grow and mature, and that which he discarded became the arrow of his destruction.

Many today are discarding things in order to grow and have larger numbers. They discard worship, holiness, and true separation from the world, only to find that what they discarded comes back to destroy them in the final tabulation of life.

Be careful what you discard in the name of growth and maturity.

Thanks for reading today.