SONG BIRDS AND BIRD WATCHING

This spring Sherrill and I have really been enjoying watching the birds in our backyard. We put out a couple of bird feeders, and they have come flocking into our backyard. It is so enjoyable watching them as they fly around our backyard, sit in the trees, eat at the feeders, and sing away. It is lots of fun spotting and identifying different species. I believe I have spotted at least seven different species, but admittedly I’m not very good at distinguishing between different ones.

Every time I watch the birds in the backyard and listen to their songs I am reminded of the famous hymn “His Eye Is On The Sparrow”. What a wonderful and encouraging song it is.

The story behind the song:

Early in the spring of 1905, Dr. Martin and his wife Civilla were traveling through El­mi­ra, New York. They developed a deep friend­ship with a cou­ple by the name of Mr. and Mrs. Doo­lit­tle—true saints of God. Mrs. Doo­lit­tle had been bed­rid­den for nearly twen­ty years. Her hus­band was an in­cur­a­ble crip­ple who was confined to a wheel chair. De­spite their af­flict­ions, they lived hap­py Christ­ian lives, bring­ing in­spir­a­tion and com­fort to all who knew them.

One day while they were vi­sit­ing with the Doo­lit­tles, Dr. Martin com­ment­ed on their bright hope­ful­ness and asked them for their se­cret. Mrs. Doo­lit­tle’s re­ply was sim­ple: “His eye is on the spar­row, and I know He watch­es me.” The beau­ty of this sim­ple ex­press­ion of bound­less faith gripped their hearts and fired the imag­in­a­tion of Dr. Mar­tin and Civilla. The hymn “His Eye Is on the Spar­row” was the out­come of that relationship, written by Civilla Martin.

Why should I feel discouraged, why should the shadows come,
Why should my heart be lonely, and long for heaven and home,
When Jesus is my portion? My constant friend is He:
His eye is on the sparrow, and I know He watches me;
His eye is on the sparrow, and I know He watches me.

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.

Sometimes we get down and depressed about the circumstances of life, but focusing on Jesus gives us the ability to rise above our circumstances and sing for joy because of the great and awesome God who has blesses our lives so much, in good times or bad. The blessings are always there, and his presence is always with us.

I pray you are encouraged today, and ready to take on the world in the power of the Holy Spirit.