Of More Value Than Many Sparrows

At breakfast every morning, I sit by our big French windows looking out on our garden. At the moment the house martins are dive-bombing straight towards the windows before they suddenly sweep upwards to their nest just above where I am sitting. They have babies up there. We can hear the babies chattering excitedly as the parents swoop in bearing food. Off they go again, wheeling round the house, gathering their food mid-flight and diving back to the nest under the eaves with breath-taking speed and accuracy.

Meanwhile, Mr Bluetit is gathering little bugs and flies for his babies, located in a nesting box just by our back door. In, out. He has a route he takes. Out he goes to collect a beakful of goodies, then up to the rose arch to check no-one is watching him. Next, with crest raised, he takes two careful short flights back to the nest – the roundabout route so that his destination is obscure to any predator. He pops into the nesting box hole like a small cork into a wine bottle. Plop!  In. Excited cheeping. And plop! Out. Off he goes again.

But sometimes there is not a bird in the garden. A strange hush holds us in suspense. We know that hush now. We sit. Every bird vanished. Then, just on cue, with lightning speed, the sparrowhawk powers through the garden like a jet fighter. Quick as a flash. Eyes like lasers.   She can turn, wheel round and be gone. And any bird who is there is swept up in her talons and gone in a split second.

Jesus says, God knows all about the sparrows.  Fear not! We are of far more value. He knows every hair on our heads – every thought, every fear, every weakness, every terror we dread.   For many, there is fear of the future: rising costs, runaway inflation, heating bills, fuel bills. For others there is the reality of bombs and death, starvation, homelessness.

I wonder whether we know that peace of God, the stillness of His presence, His authority, His personal care over our lives, in every detail, now and for every event that befalls us in our future?

We can ask Him!