Tag: sparrow

…the low is lifted high;
the stars shall bend their voices,
and every stone shall cry.

And every stone shall cry
in praises of the child
by whose descent among us
the worlds are reconciled.
~Richard Wilbur from “A Christmas Hymn”

Gentlemen, I have lived a long time and am convinced that God governs in the affairs of men.

If a sparrow cannot fall to the ground without His notice, is it probable that an empire can rise without His aid?

I move that prayer imploring the assistance of Heaven be held every morning before we proceed to business.
– Benjamin Franklin at the Constitutional Convention of 1787

We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us.
We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God.
– 2 Corinthians 5:20

Come, let us now resolve at last
  To live and love in quiet;
We’ll tie the knot so very fast
  That Time shall ne’er untie it.

The truest joys they seldom prove
  Who free from quarrels live:
‘Tis the most tender part of love
  Each other to forgive.

When least I seem’d concern’d, I took
  No pleasure nor no rest;
And when I feign’d an angry look,
  Alas! I loved you best.

Own but the same to me—you’ll find
  How blest will be our fate.
O to be happy—to be kind—
  Sure never is too late!
~John Sheffield “The Reconciliation”

It did seem odd this morning during my barn chores that our Haflinger gelding stood facing the back wall as I opened his stall door to give him his hay. For a moment I wondered if there was a problem with his appetite as he usually would dive right into his hay as soon as I threw it to him. A closer look told me the problem was with his hind end, not his front end: his heavy white tail was wrapped snugly around a J hook hanging on the stall wall meant to hold his water bucket. Instead now it held him — and wasn’t letting go. He had apparently been itching his butt back and forth, round and round on the handy hook and managed to wrap his tail into such tight knots on the hook that he was literally tethered to the wall. He was very calm about the whole thing; maybe just a little embarrassed.

He turned his head to look at me, appearing a wee bit pitiful. How long he’d been standing there like that through the night was anyone’s guess. I bet he no longer felt itchy.

I started to work at untying the tail knots to free him and found them wound so tight that loosening them required significant cooperation from my 1200 pound buddy. Unfortunately, any time I managed to almost unloop a knot over the hook end, he would pull forward, snugging it even tighter. 

Out of desperation I pulled out the scissors I keep in my barnjacket pocket. I cut one knot hoping that would be sufficient. Then I cut through another knot. Still not enough. I cut a third big knot and thank God Almighty, he was free at last. He sauntered over to his hay now with a chunk of his tail in my hand and a big gap in what was still left hanging on him. It may take a year to grow that missing hair back out.  But hey, it is only hair and at least someone kind and caring came along with a set of shears to release him painlessly from his captivity. 

I know what it is like to get tangled up in things I should give wide berth. I have a tendency, like my horse, to butt in where I best not be and then become so bound I can’t get loose again. It can take forever to free myself, sometimes painfully leaving parts of my hide behind.

So when I inevitably get tied up in knots again, or when I fall out of my comfortable, secure nest, I pray someone will come along to save me.  Better yet, I hope someone might warn me away from the things that hook me before I foolishly back right into them. 

I’ve got to loosen up and quit pulling the knots tighter.

I am humbled in my need.
I am humbled by my helplessness.

So I implore God for His steadfast, reconciling assistance –
as the sparrow on the ground, fallen from the nest,
as the horse bound by his knotted tail to the wall.

I trust God’s protecting, rescuing, forgiving Hand.

This year’s Advent theme is from Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s sermon on the First Sunday in Advent, December 2, 1928:

The celebration of Advent is possible only to those who are troubled in soul, who know themselves to be poor and imperfect, and who look forward to something greater to come. For these, it is enough to wait in humble fear until the Holy One himself comes down to us, God in the child in the manager.

God comes.

He is, and always will be now, with us in our sin, in our suffering, and at our death. We are no longer alone. God is with us and we are no longer homeless.
~Dietrich Bonhoeffer – from Christmas Sermons