Not one sparrow

My prayer request list is growing heavy. A young family loses their husband/father to a vicious cancer. A fiancée, instead of planning her wedding, dreads the anniversary of the jog her loved one never returned from last year. A son goes off to college, and two months later is diagnosed with stage four cancer. Others battle infections, chronic pain, family hostility, strokes, break-ups, houses that won’t sell, or bills that can’t be paid.

It’s pulling me to my knees.

Sometimes in tears, always with anguished heart, I lift the aching ones up to the father who cares.

In this huge, crazy world, how can anyone care about every person, every family, and every broken heart?

I know only one who can, because he is love. Love that never fails. The source of life, and in the end, all we have.

And not one sparrow falls to the earth without his knowledge.

The common house sparrow is probably the least noble or photographed of all feathered creatures. They certainly aren’t sought after by birders, since sparrows cluster in towns and cities, and their little tan bodies display little to warrant attention.

We’d expect him to notice great birds of flight, or colorful plumage

swan in Switzerland ©Jack H Thompson
swan ©Jack H Thompson
Roseate Spoonbill
Roseate Spoonbill

Black-bellied whistling duck
Black-bellied whistling duck
Great Blue Heron
Great Blue Heron

Hummingbird, Cloud Forest, Ecuador
Hummingbird, Cloud Forest, Ecuador

Red Tailed Hawk, Celery Fields, FL
Red Tailed Hawk, Celery Fields, FL
Sandhill cranes in flight
Sandhill cranes in flight

or rare appearances.
Blue-footed Boobie, Fernandina, Galapagos
Blue-footed Boobie, Fernandina, Galapagos

Nazca Boobie, Espanola, Galapagos
Nazca Boobie, Espanola, Galapagos

Sparrows can’t swim, fish or land or take off in the water.
Flightless Cormorant, Galapagos
Flightless Cormorant, Galapagos

Galapagos penguin
Galapagos penguin

Anhinga with fish, FL
Anhinga with fish, FL

Galapagos Heron
Galapagos Heron
Brown Pelican, Sarasota, FL
Brown Pelican, Sarasota, FL
Great Egret, Celery Fields, FL
Great Egret, Celery Fields, FL

And they certainly aren’t fierce or noble.
Osprey, Florida
Osprey, Florida

Nevertheless, each tiny sparrow gets his attention.

And every hair on your head. Thick and curly, thin or balding, he knows them all, even the ones you washed down the drain in the shower.

He knows our loses in more detail than we do.

And he cares.

By now, are you singing this song?

All photographs are property of Jack H Thompson. All rights reserved
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6 thoughts on “Not one sparrow

    1. Hi Nicole!
      After I posted, I fussed at myself because I thought this was too picture heavy and not enough content. I’m happy to know it was meaningful to you. Thank you for letting me know.

      We all need encouragement whenever we stretch ourselves or expose our thoughts to the world, don’t we?

      Blessings on you and your writing.
      (For others reading the comments, this is the author of Like Moonlight at Low Tide (Zondervan / Blink), ACFW 2013 Carol Award for young adult fiction.)

      Like

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