As I walked out to our car yesterday morning, I saw a sparrow in the driveway. The sparrow wasn’t moving and I worried that it was injured. As I walked toward it, it fluttered away slowly. If a sparrow can limp, it was limping. It was obvious that something was wrong. But it fluttered slowly to a neighbor’s back wall and I was unable to see what the problem was.
Every summer we see injured sparrows. Perhaps it’s normal. Perhap’s it’s a city hazard – too many man-made things interfering with these tiny creatures. My neighbor tries to rescue them. We’ve gone out with cloth in boxes to gently transport them into her home. Her heart is kind toward sparrows and people. Sometimes these rescued sparrows live, other times the injury is too acute and they die.
I thought about this as I drove away yesterday, the fragile sparrow on my mind. Truth is, I’ve never thought much about sparrows — until I began to see those that were injured.
I know so many who are injured at this time, so many who need both physical and emotional care. I know so many who could use a neighbor in their lives; a neighbor who will put cloth in boxes and gently transport them through the injured season.
Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground outside your Father’s care. And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. So don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.*
I have heard these words from the Gospel of Matthew since I was a little girl. As my faith has faltered and wavered through the years, the meaning has become more precious.
The hairs of my head are numbered.
I am worth more than many sparrows.
God sees the injured sparrows – he knows these seasons.
Don’t be afraid. Don’t be afraid.
As I watch those that I love go through injured seasons, I cling to these words, desperate to believe them.
Desperate to know the Father cares.
*Matthew 10:29-31
Marilyn R. Gardner 
That was beautiful.
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A couple of years ago, a pair of cardinals made their nest in a shrub outside our bathroom window. It was a safe place, up against the side of the house, shielded from potential predators. We watched as the parents sat on the eggs and then there were 2 babies for us to watch from our private window on their world. We missed their leaving the nest, but suddenly one day it was empty. they were gone out into the world to make it on their own, a world full of dangers and predators. I’m sure God watches over these babies trying their wings even as He does over the injured sparrows. And so good for us to remember God’s special care for each of us, who are worth more than many sparrows to Him. The end of the cardinal story – sometime after we saw that the nest was empty, I heard a couple of birds calling out to each other and looked out. there were the parent cardinals, flying in gay abandon from one branch and one tree to another all over the back yard. Were they celebrating the empty nest? Or getting ready to fill another one? It was amazing to see their flying, their joy in life and it seemed, in each other, to hear their calls. Yes, we can learn so much from the birds. Thanks, Marilyn. I love this post.
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Very important things to remember!
A wren made her nest on our front door which we then did not use! When her babies hatched we watched them daily. My daughter and I sat out in the yard the day the learned to fly. It was such tough/love! The mom would push them out. They would try to come back, a few times she would nuzzle them just to say I still love you but then push them out again. It was hard to watch. But this babies made it! The next day she was still with them in an azalea outside the Window. I wondered if they had known the day before if while she was pushing them out she would still be there with them the next day. If they’d have known would they still have kept coming back to the nest? Just reminded me that we need to expect that love still will be there even after we fall from the nest, He will still be by our side.
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