Common Sparrows

I have always liked birds. I love all the seagulls we have in the fall. I am so excited whenever I see a hummingbird or a quail. Flamingos, birds of paradise, finches, bluebirds, pheasants, and turkeys—the  list goes on. The variety of birds around the world is overwhelming. But one bird I never really seem to notice is the sparrow.

​Sparrows are small, plain, and, well, common. They have no 

Bonnie Piovesan

lovely song or bright plumage to grab our attention. They generally live in large cities and nest on buildings. They scavenge for seeds or small insects and pretty much do their own thing unnoticed by most of the world. People around the world are familiar with sparrows, but they are so common and ordinary that I have never once heard anyone exclaim, “Look! A sparrow!”  Why would we care about something so common, so plain, so ordinary?
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If you have been in church for any length of time you have probably heard the song His Eye Is on the Sparrow. It is a beautiful song of God’s care and is based on Matthew 10, when Jesus is giving some instructions to His disciples. Jesus talks a lot about fear and God’s care in this chapter, and then He suddenly throws in this lesson on value using the common sparrow.

Jesus knows what we are up against; He is familiar with our sufferings. One of the common sufferings of people is a misunderstanding of their value. We say things to ourselves, like, “I am not a great singer,” “I am not attractive,” “I don’t do anything exciting or fascinating,” “I am common, plain, ordinary.” We de-value ourselves on many levels. We have no value because of money, heritage, race, gender, the car we drive, the shoes we wear, and the very food we eat.

Jesus knew our tendency towards tearing people down. We tear another person down out of our pride, and then turn around and tear ourselves down out of shame. We are masters of both self-righteous pride and low self-esteem. It is a subtle, but painful, abuse of our value as humans. So enters a beautiful lesson with something so common: the sparrow. Jesus points to a small bird that no one really notices and tells us that God in heaven, running the universe, knows every time one of these plain, ordinary birds falls to the ground. It is a picture of an Almighty Father who cares deeply for even the smallest bird.

God made the sparrow common. He gave it plain feathers, and a simple life. The same God chose to make us in His image and declared out of all things He created that humans were very good. So consider, if this same Father is looking after birds that He designed to be common, will He not look after you whom He designed with more intricacy? Is there anything really plain about another human being, when every person has a unique personality and story? We may not see the value God has given us all of the time, but the sparrow reminds us that God sees each of us as precious, valuable, and His.

As you go about your day, dwell on all of the many passages that God has given us about our value and the value of those around us. When we walk in the truth of how much God loves us and cares for us, we can find peace and common ground that our Father has His eyes on all that He has made. Even the common, plain, and ordinary are precious to Him.

In His Name,
​Bonnie