Thoughts: Hannah's Blog

Sparrows are my most favourite birds. They are so tiny, cute, a little fluffy and have a nice chirp. I love watching them flitter here and there. Some used to visit us and we used to keep rice for it, but then they stopped coming. Also we had put up nets on the balcony to avoid pigeons, but sunbirds used to come, they are tiny too so they manage to fit in through the net and flit around inside the balcony.

It had been a few months since my kid started going to school for the first time this year. He had a hard time adjusting, we still have our occasional hard days, where in he refuses to go to school and starts crying repeating “I don’t want to go to school, please.” It is very difficult to convince him to go. He comes up with creative excuses from: “I am tired”, “I will go tomorrow”, “I need excuse”, “I didn’t sleep well last night”, “Kids at school are pinching/beating/touching me/my chair, etc”. “The teacher is strict, they are making me write” to “Mom, I will miss you in school so I don’t want to go”.

It breaks my heart to watch him cry so much, especially when I had to drop him at school and hear his shouts and wails. I used to come home and cry in my room. (Initially I cried in school as well and the teachers had to come and comfort me!)

It was one such hard day and I was in my room, facing the balcony with the doors open. I was in tears, with a lot of questions on my mind on when things will get better, and worrying about what he’d be doing right then, would he have settled down or still crying, what is going to upset him that day, etc. It was then I heard the sound of birds chirping, first one then another.

I saw three sunbirds had come inside the balcony and were jumping from one plant to the other and trying to drink out of the hibiscus flower. Happily flying around, not staying still. I was captured by their presence that I had stopped crying. I was reminded of the well-known verse:

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.

It was as if God was telling me that my kid is like a little sparrow (much more than the sparrows) and reminded me that he is under His care. Though I cannot be with him all the time, God is with him and he is under His protection and God cares more about my son than I can ever care for him, so he is safe in His hands. And that I had no cause to worry. That thought and reminder brought in so much peace: like wave after wave. I acknowledged God’s word and promise for my little sparrow and left the room assured of God’s care.

A few minutes later his ma’m called me to say not to worry and that he has stopped crying and settled down in class. She specifically said she called me just so I’d not sit and worry about him. That was such a comfort and I felt it was a confirmation of God’s word which I had just then received.