Beautiful day today! Can’t deny it’s a winter day. Blue sky, a few wispy clouds. The wind is really boisterous. I’ll be glad when Mother Nature runs out of her wind producing breath. I am missing my porch swinging and pondering. Every time I walk by the front door Penelope briefly stops thinking we’re going outside. Just too cold today. We’ve taken several walks and filled up the bird feeders and suet baskets. But the wind is keeping us inside.

Mother Nature let the clouds take over the sunset pageant tonight, keeping the sun hidden and brushing a pale gold glow across the horizon to set the stage for the layers of clouds to welcome the twilight. The fluffy pillows of clouds, trimmed in brilliant white, were dressed in magical colors of gray and purple and gold, slowly floating across the stage of the evening’s gloaming. The sun, unseen and bedded down in her cloud covers, turned off the day’s light and kissed Father Sky goodnight.

In the cold whispers of the coming night, Father Sky woke the waning crescent moon and helped him step up to the top of the sky canopy’s dark stage. Sprinkled on the night stage with the silver moon were millions of stars, their pin pricks in the sky canopy gleaming like diamonds from the Crown Jewels. The stage was set for a glorious awakening of the darkness of night. I’ve decided the night sky is just as beautiful as the horizon at sunset. The night has come and the day will dawn gloriously at her appointed hour.

I was watching a little flock of sparrows in my yard this afternoon, so busy with their bird seed on the ground, not sitting on the feeders, staying close to one another. Sparrows don’t usually visit my yard and I was happy to see them among the cardinals and chickadees. Sparrows are special in the Bible’s scripture and they are always seen and cared for by God. God has a protective sheltering presence around us like a mother bird. God watches over the smallest creatures just like he watches over us.

We can learn a lesson from the sparrows. In scripture we learn sparrows were the cheapest and smallest birds sold in the public marketplaces. Luke 12:6-7 reads, “Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies? Yet not one of them is forgotten by God. Indeed, the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.” No one, not even the tiniest sparrow, can be beyond the reach of God’s love. God is always standing beside us no matter our indiscretions or our sins, he’s loving us and praying for us. Nothing is too trivial to bring to his ears through prayer, no burden to heavy for him to carry, no sin we can’t be forgiven for when we accept God’s love in our heart and ask for forgiveness. God is all-powerful, all-knowing, always present in our lives.

There’s a beautiful old gospel hymn, His Eye Is on the Sparrow. I love the lyrics and the reference to the sparrow. “Why should I feel discouraged, why should the shadows come. Why should my heart be lonely, and long for heav’n and home, when Jesus is my portion? My constant friend is He: His eye is on the sparrow, and I know He watches me.” In the refrain I think of the little yard sparrows singing their prayers of thanksgiving for this sunny winter’s blue sky day. The refrain says, “I sing because I’m happy, I sing because I’m free, for His eye is on the sparrow, and I know He watches me.” Psalm 91:4 tells us, “He will cover you with his feathers, and under his wings you will find refuge; his faithfulness will be your shield and rampart.”

I’ve felt protected by God’s wings of grace. With faith and prayer I’ve weathered the storms in my life. I learned how to put one foot in front of the other and walk on in the sunshine of God’s love. Isaiah 40:31 reads, “Those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they’d shall walk and not faint.”

Ever had times when you stumbled through life, thinking you would never be able to stand up straight again and get on with living. We don’t often think of life’s fragility and life is so, so fragile. Some of us live long lives, others get a fraction of time. We’re not guaranteed tomorrow, either. Psalm 90:12 says in a prayer, written by Moses, “Teach us to realize the brevity of life, so that we may grow in wisdom.” The Bible describes life as a “fleeting shadow,” a “mere handbreadth,” a “mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes.”

Live your life with faith and joy. Be grateful for the blessing of each new day.

“Happy is the person who not only sings, but feels God’s eye is on the sparrow, and knows He watches over me. To be simply ensconced in God is true joy.” — Alfred Armand Montapert