Keep Your Eye on the Birdie...

The other morning the cats were a little more animated than usual.  When I went to investigate I discovered that they had found a new plaything: a baby sparrow.

I had mixed feelings.

Being the sentimental type, I felt badly for the baby bird.  On the other hand, the kitties were having a ball.  What to do?  I decided on a compromise, and scooped up the little sparrow and took it outside.  I figured it would have one more chance to get away--and my kitchen might stay free of the fur and feathers.

Turns out it was too late.  By the time I left for work, well, I won't trouble you with the gory details....

But it all left me thinking.  If God's eye was really on the sparrow, as the old song goes, what kind of day was I about to have?  Is that the kind of protection I could expect?  

And what about the cats?  Was it simply their day?  Was God's eye, God's favor on them that day, rather than on the sparrow?  

The problem with reducing the fullness of our experience to cliches is that the cliches never really do more than reduce the fullness of our experience.  Trying to capture the mystery and magnitude of creation in a catch phrase is like trying to pour the Pacific into a pail.  It may be wet and salty, but it's no ocean.

So the next time I find myself trying to sum up the complexities of life in a sentence or two, I think take a step back and live in the mystery for a while before trying to explain it away.  

Consider the lilies...they neither toil nor do they sow.

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Happy Independence Day to all!  -Steve