My husband's hands pick up meticulously interwoven twigs, straw, paper, and mud, placing them in my bag, all the while talking to the birds with loud lamentations: "Why are you doing this? Don't you know this isn't a good place? Why aren't you building your nest high in one of these trees? You'd be safe up there! We can't get into our mailbox with your nest on top of it!"
For some reason, this daily-repeated ritual of lamentation reminds me of God and us. We are the sparrows, wrong-headed and hopeful, building our lives, carefully, meticulously placing our hopes, in all the wrong places. Places often far from God's desires for us, where nothing of lasting worth can flourish. We make mistakes, and then God works in our lives to carefully dismantle them so we can build somewhere else, mourning for us all the while: "Why are you building your life here? Why are you placing your hopes there? I have provided you with inspirations and dreams of where to go, what to do, and you continue to ignore Me. Fly high, closer to Me! Don't be afraid to fly high to the tallest tree of My desiring for you!"
God dismantles our wrong-headed nests, works to the good when we make foolish plans, and what do we do? We fly back and build those nests, those plans, all over again, in the same place, a place where we will not come into our own, a place where we will not fly high and stay close to God's shining Face.
But God, our patient God, never gives up on us. Jesus, who loved watching birds, tells us, "Are not two sparrows sold for next to nothing? Yet not a single sparrow falls to the ground without your Father's consent. As for you, every hair of your head has been counted; so do not be afraid of anything. You are worth more than an entire flock of sparrows."
God our Father, Father of all creation which He has made, loves the sparrows, watches over them minute by minute; each one is here because God chooses to give this tiny chirping, flying, hopefully nesting bird abundant life. And God certainly loves and watches over us; we draw in breath because we are constantly in the loving, nurturing Mind and Heart of God.
The Psalmist in Psalm 84 tells us about God's sanctuary:
"How lovely is Your dwelling place, O Lord of Hosts!
My soul yearns and pines for the courts of the Lord.
My heart and my flesh cry out for the living God.
Even the sparrow finds a home,
and the swallow a nest in which she puts her young...."
When God is first in our lives, when we yearn for God, long to be and to stay close to God in our lives, we will fly unerringly to the best places, the best people, which will keep us close to our God. We will build our nests, our dwelling places, as high as we can reach - our aspirations will be full of the knowledge and trust that we are sons and daughters of God. For each of us is worth more than a flock of sparrows - and sparrows are worth much! Not a single sparrow falls to the ground without God knowing it; not a single one of us falls away from His Face without God's loud lamentations and gentle hands lifting us closer to Him.
Sooner or later, our birds will comprehend my husband's message and go elsewhere to build their nest and lay their precious eggs. My husband will sigh with relief. He no more likes to dismantles nests than God likes to upend our lives. Yet God, our loving God, will turn our lives upside-down, fragile as they may be, until we finally learn how to arrow straight into the shining sun of His Face.