Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father. And even the hairs of your head are all counted. So do not be afraid; you are of more value than many sparrows.
Matt. 10: 29-31
THE GARDEN
A kitchen window looks out on our bird and squirrel feeders. We provide our yard creatures, our Wild Yard Babies as we call them, with corn cobs, peanuts, assorted seed, cranberries, and thistle. We cannot tell you all the kinds of Yard Babies that dine at our backyard table. There are pine and fox squirrels, cardinals, jays, two kinds of woodpeckers, and an assortment of small birds including the ever-present, ubiquitous sparrow.
For years these lovely creatures have lightened our dish washing load and made coffee drinking and conversation ever so much more enjoyable. Without exception, guests marvel at the antics of woodpeckers plucking nuts out of feeder tubes; squirrels hanging upside down on corn cobs; blue jays fighting them for a place in line; and countless sparrows coming and going.
Matthew has something to say about the sparrow, as noted in the passage quoted above.
Years ago we realized that gardening was good for our physical health. And not just working in the garden, but looking at it and thinking about it.
Another verse suggests that it is also good for our spiritual health:
The kiss of the sun for pardon..
The song of the birds for mirth.
One is nearer God’s heart in a garden,
Than any where else on earth.
A garden is a place of beauty and contentment and relaxation. Because it is also a place of birth and growth and struggle and winning and losing, it is also a microcosm of life. God never promised us a rose garden, as another lyric proclaims. What is promised is that sparrows are part of God’s plan and by golly, so are all the rest of us. Indeed, all creation is part of His plan and as we enter the Lenten Season of 2014 we can know that we are playing our part in that plan.
Prayer: O heavenly Father, who hast filled the world with beauty: Open our eyes to behold thy gracious hand in all thy works; That, rejoicing in thy whole creation, we may learn to serve Thee with gladness; for the sake of him through whom all things were made, thy Son Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Mary Kay and Paul Sparre (2014)
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