This little bird immediately began a tour of the house. At first I felt sorry for her (or was it a he?) and tried to calmly “round her up” so that she could safely get back outside. There was food cooking on the stove; so, whenever she went out to the kitchen, I went out there to make sure she didn’t land on the top of the stove or in a pan.
After a few minutes it began to appear that this bird was not upset or scared at all about being in the house. In fact, she seemed to be enjoying herself. She explored each room (except the bathrooms) and even went under my bed. An investigation was made into my sister’s room and into her office. We had the front door open, and more than once the bird went by and looked at the open door. But she made no attempt to go out it. Curiosity seemed to have gotten the better of her.
But the house is no place for a bird unless that bird is a pet. She finally went into the living room and sat on the couch and looked out the front door. No, haven’t finished looking around the house yet. She hopped back onto the floor and continued her tour of the house. Once she was in the living room, and I came up behind her. She was on the floor by the front door on her way back to the back of the house again. But Christy was in the hallway. She shut the door halfway and then stood next to it so that the hallway would be blocked. The only way the bird could get by was to scoot under the door or scurry around Christy’s feet. For a few moments the bird sat there and examined the situation. She looked at Christy’s feet and seemed to be contemplating whether or not to try to get by them. Again, she showed no fear either of me behind her or of Christy in front of her.
Finally she seemed to decide it was too much effort to keep trying to avoid us in each room. She turned around and faced the open door. In a moment she was out where little birdies belong, and our hearts felt happy for her.
I thought about how we followed her around to look after her and help her out. I thought about how I stood in front of the stove when she was in the kitchen so that she would not land on the stove and get hurt. How tenderly we cared about this little, out of place sparrow.
Is that something like the way God looks after us? He says, “Are not five sparrows sold for two farthings, and not one of them is forgotten before God? But even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not therefore: ye are of more value than many sparrows.” (Luke 12:6,7)
As Christians we are God’s children. But we do not always have the wisdom to know what is good for us. Perhaps we will end up in places where we don’t belong. We’ve never been in one of these places before. Everything looks very interesting to us. We go around and try to see everything while God is following us around and gently trying to guide us out of that place and into the place where Christians belong. In some spots He covers the danger. At other spots, He makes a way for us to escape and sets barriers so that we will not run back into the wrong place again.
When we finally get back into the place where we belong, God rejoices over us. But God never takes away His tender care from us. He loves us. We are of more value to Him than many sparrows would be to us.
There is never a need to be afraid. God will take care of you.