HOPE, HOPE & HOPE! THE WORLD NEEDS A DOSE! – by Ditto
I want to tell you a true story. One day as I was sitting in my house in Canada, I heard a big thud on the window overlooking the back deck. Just days before, I had heard a similar thud on the front picture window, but failed to check it out. I later found a dead sparrow in the flower bed.
So, this time I was determined to respond. I ran outside to find a sparrow lying on the deck – stunned and motionless. I carefully picked him up and cupped my hands over him, so that he would not be alarmed and flutter out of my hands.
I began talking to him quietly, saying, “Don’t worry! I’m not going to hurt you!”
I then just held him in STILLNESS and in QUIETNESS for quite awhile. Every so often, I would peak through my fingers to see if he was still alive. I would see these little eyes silently staring at me. But he never moved or fluttered away in fear. The little sparrow knew I was there to help him, not harm him. He trusted me.
I wondered what I should do with him, but continued to hold him, cupped in my hands. I wondered whether he had a broken wing? I wondered if he would die like the other sparrow? I hoped not. As if he was reading my mind, all of a sudden, the little sparrow pooped in my hands!!!! Ewwwww! Bird poop! LOL!
“Great!”, I thought, “I rescue you and you repay me by pooping on me??!!?!?” Well, at least he was alive!!!! That was the message, right? Well, that did make me happy!
So, I decided to take him back outside and put him on the deck railing. If he flew away, then I would know he was fine. I took him out on the deck and carefully perched him on the railing. He didn’t move, but he also seemed to be okay. So I quietly walked away. I looked back to see him sitting there looking around. He seemed like he was no longer in shock, but he was not flying away either. I wondered if he was wounded, even though I saw no sign of a broken wing. So I continued to watch and then went back inside the house.
Every so often, I would peak out the window to see if he was still there. It seemed like hours that he sat motionless. And then without warning, he was gone! I didn’t even see him fly away! I ran outside to see if he may have fallen off the railing. But, he hadn’t! He had taken flight and was gone. That made me happy!
As I went on with my day, I couldn’t get the incident with the sparrow out of my mind. I thought, “God allowed this to teach me something.”
I thought about the verses about the sparrows and how God sees every one that falls from the sky and that He cares for us much more than the sparrows.
I went to look up the verses:
“Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground outside your Father’s care. And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. So don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.” (Matthew 10:29-31)
I thought about how this little sparrow was flying happily that day and upon seeing the reflection of the clouds and blue sky in the window, thought it was just more sky – when THUD!!!! He crashed and fell down – unexpectedly with no one to help him!!! But, I heard and responded, just like God has repeatedly heard me and seen my need for help.
It was how I felt about my life right then. I had been soaring and then trial, after trial, after trial came my way. I had just lost my mother, unexpectedly and was reeling from grief. I was in an abusive marriage that was about to end. It seemed like the problems were stacking up one by one. What was I going to do? Where was I going to go? How? Why? The questions were in my mind, spirit and soul.
But, in the midst of the problems of life, my Heavenly Father was drawing closer to me each new day, showing me that I was precious and that He knew all the details of my life – right down to the number of hairs on my head. My Heavenly Father was giving me HOPE! My experience was just like that sparrow. My loving Heavenly Father picked me up whenever I needed help and just tenderly cared for me. Many times HEALING would come in the silence of His loving heart! There was tenderness, quietness, patience and understanding towards me. Never once was it: “Pick yourself up!” “Snap out of it!” Nope! It was just pure love and care! Healing love and care!!
It was all about giving me renewed HOPE – that no matter what comes my way, that my GOD would walk closely with me! I was not alone!
I went to the piano and sang the old song, “His Eye is on the Sparrow”! The words touched me that day! I decided I would someday record this lovely song and in 2004 I did. I have since made a music video of the recording with the lyrics in the video. If you know the song, listen and sing along! You can watch it on You Tube here.
“HIS EYE IS ON THE SPARROW” – Lyrics
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.
“Let not your heart be troubled,”
His tender word I hear,
And resting on His goodness,
I lose my doubts and fears;
Though by the path He leadeth,
But one step I may see;
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.
Whenever I am tempted,
Whenever clouds arise,
When songs give place to sighing,
When hope within me dies,
I draw the closer to Him,
From care He sets me free;
His eye is on the sparrow,
And I know He watches me;
His eye is on the sparrow,
And I know He watches me.”
The line in the song that says:
“When HOPE within me dies, I DRAW THE CLOSER TO HIM.”
That is the solution for keeping HOPE alive! It is drawing ever close to the one who loves us the most – our Creator, who is LOVE! God is LOVE! He is watching you and me – all the time!
In 1999, some of my friends experienced a tragedy. Their 16 year old son and his friend, were killed in a snowmobile accident. We traveled to attend the wake and funeral, as just a few years before, my 16 year old step-son also died unexpectedly. Loss can be difficult, especially of a young life. I didn’t plan to say anything at the funeral gathering, but God knew there were words He wanted me to speak. I told the people that day an analogy that God used in my life too:
Life is like hanging a picture on the wall. If you try to understand it through your eyes, it is like hanging the picture on the wall backwards. And as you look at it backwards, it doesn’t make sense! 🙁
You must hang the picture on the wall the correct way! It is like looking at things through God’s eyes! 🙂 We don’t understand His ways! We don’t understand His thoughts! But, it is trusting that the MASTER DESIGNER knows the masterpiece that He is making out of our life and trusting Him with the unanswered questions.
Let’s say you bought an expensive painting by a famous artist, like Claude Monet, to hang on your living room wall!!
You brought it home and carefully centered it on the wall! The colors were vibrant and beautiful! You bought it because of that vibrant mixture of colors! But, as you lifted it up to hang in your living room, you decided to hang it backwards on the wall. Would that even make sense?? But, I have found that we as humans do many things that do not make sense.
Every morning when you came into your living room, you looked at the painting, but the back of the canvas looked old and dingy, and totally unappealing! The vibrant and cheery colors of the Master Painter, Claude Monet, were just not visible.
When friends came, you would tell them of your expensive Claude Monet painting, but they would only see the back of the aging canvas, rather than the MASTER ARTIST’s masterpiece, with all the colors! Your friends might even smirk and laugh and make fun.
Eventually, the thoughts would likely turn to, “Why did I buy this expensive painting? It’s ugly! I hate it! I shouldn’t even have this hanging on the wall!!!! I should get rid of it!!!!!”
But the artist had no intention of you looking at the painting from the backside!!! It is about hanging it on the wall right-side-up! Not backwards or upside-down! Claude Monet wants you to look at the painting through his eyes!
Your Maker is your Master Designer! He wants you to look at your life through HIS EYES!!!! He has PLANS for you!!! He wants you to TRUST that HIS PLANS are awesome and unique and full of vibrancy! And just like a Master Artist painting on a canvas, you are HIS Masterpiece – entirely individual, unique and special, and equipped exactly for all the PLANS He has for you!
Knowing that there is a special PLAN for your life is HOPE!
For God said, “For I know the plans that I have for you,’ declares the LORD, ‘plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon Me and come and pray to Me, and I will listen to you.” (Jeremiah 29:11-12)
So, just keep that picture of your LIFE hanging right-side-up, knowing that your Maker is creating you to be HIS Masterpiece! Stick with HIS PLANS!!!! It’s all about HOPE!
Your friend,
Dorothea (Affectionately known as “Ditto”)
P.S. You can connect with me on my Facebook page and send me a message.
