'Oh, my head, my head' complained Mrs. Sparrow. 'All the noise you children are making is giving me a headache! Twitter, twitter, twitter all day from morning till night' and she looked very crossly at all the little Sparrows. They didn't say a word - just looked at her, their little eyes all bright and shiny. Mrs. Sparrow smiled. How could she be cross when such sweet little faces were looking at her? They hadn't been naughty, just noisy, so she smiled, then said, 'It's a lovely sunny day so out you go all of you, and play until it's time for tea.'
The children laughed, and began pushing at each other to see who could get out into the sunshine first.
'See you at tea-time, Mum' they called merrily as they flew out. What a noise they made, and Mum waved and smiled thankfully as she watched them chasing each other in and out of the branches.
‘A few moments of peace!’ she said as they disappeared from sight. 'What shall we do now?' one of them asked after a while as they paused for breath and rested in a tall tree.
'We can't go very far' pointed out his brother. 'It's almost tea-time.'
'Well, why don't we fly down and find out what is happening over there?' asked Sally. the youngest Sparrow. She had been quietly watching a group of people who were sitting listening very carefully to what another man was saying, and Sally pointed them out to her brothers and sisters.
'Good idea' they all decided. They were curious little birds and always wanted to know what was going on. So they quickly and quietly flew down, and the men didn't even notice as they hopped towards the group, getting close to the one who was speaking.
He paused when he saw them, and smiled then said to the men around him - 'You see these little Sparrows? Do you know that not one of them falls to the ground or hurts themselves without your Father in Heaven knowing about it, and caring?'
The Sparrows didn't wait to hear any more. They were so excited that they all started talking at once, so the eldest brother, Stevie, shouted - 'Come on, let's go home. Let's tell Mum' and they zoomed off.
When they reached home they tumbled over themselves in their eagerness to get in the door.
'What is all the noise about?' Mum asked. 'Calm down and don't all talk at once.'
Gradually the little Sparrows calmed down, then Mum asked Stevie to tell her what had happened to make them all so excited.
'Mum, you know that field at the bottom of the hill outside town?' he asked.
Mum nodded.
'We were in the trees resting as we were so hot, and we didn't know what to do next, so Sally suggested that we flew down to listen to a man who was talking to a few other men.' He paused.
'And did you?' Mum asked.
'YES' shouted all the others.
'And He talked about US!' Stevie added.
'And He said our Father in Heaven knows everything about us.'
'And He said He even knows when we hurt ourselves.'
'And He said' ...................
So many interruptions, they just couldn’t contain their excitement. 'All right' All right' laughed Mum. 'I know who it was. I know who you have been listening to.'
'WHO?' - again they all shouted together.
'Jesus' said Mum.
Their little beaks fell open in surprise - JESUS!
‘Yes, only Jesus could say anything as wonderful as that' Mum said. 'Hardly anyone else even notices us, but Jesus and our Heavenly Father love and care about us as I've told you many times - remember?'
They all nodded their little heads. Yes, they all knew about Jesus, but to think they had actually SEEN Him! It was so thrilling.
'What a pity everyone isn't a Sparrow' said Sally. 'I feel so sorry for them.'
Mum smiled at her. 'You needn't feel upset, Sally, Jesus loves all the people in the world too. That's why He came - to tell everyone how much He and our Heavenly Father love them!'
Sally sighed happily. 'That's all right then. I feel much better now' and she smiled at them all.
Stevie ruffled her feathers and laughed. 'Good' he said. 'Come on then, I'll race you to the tea-table, I'm starving.'
Elizabeth Aynsley ©

Luke 12. v. 6