Pudgy Birds

I sat in the car and shivered in the morning chill as I waited for Drew to come out. He was finishing packing his lunch, and I wanted to make sure I didn't need to scrape frost from the windows again. Just fog, no frost. I yawned and flipped through the radio stations for something interesting, to no avail. I switched it off and fussed about the time: 7:02. Hurry up, Drew!

I looked towards the door to see if he were coming, and I noticed a half dozen birds twittering about the steps, hopping from one to the other, picking at microscopic stuff. I smiled, half amused. Those steps are always littered with junk - cigarette butts, scraps of paper, food wrappings, broken bits of irrelevant stuff that escaped from some carelessly carried bag of trash. Not usually much in the line of food, but the occasional chunk of pretzel or toast crust.

I know the apartment complex hires someone to clean up from time to time, but it doesn't seem to make much difference. Sometimes I think I should come out and clean up myself for a few days and see if anyone notices. But I resist, mostly due to lack of energy. They guy who does it is far from young and looks totally unenamored with his lot.

As I watch the little brown and gray birds, I wonder that they can actually hop up the tall step, they all seem quite plump and well rounded. I see that they flutter their wings a little and it looks effortless, but why are they so fat? Are they young and have their 'baby fat' still clinging to them? I know its fall and there is plenty of stuff to munch. Perhaps they have put on extra against the coming winter. It must be difficult to hoist all that weight up and down those steps for almost no return. Yet they are in constant motion, hopping, pecking, fluttering, chirping. Its quite entertaining.

They keep at it until Drew exits the building, then they scatter in a dozen directions, chirping wildly. As Drew climbs into the car, I think of a good verse (we have a "mini-devotion" together in the mornings as we drive to the carpool pickup site: I ask him to quote a verse from memory and pray over the day [he spiels of a form of 'thankyouforthisdayblessusandhelpxxx(whatever he is most concerned about)]). Sometimes he gets stuck thinking of a verse and falls back on the one he was learning when we first started this tradition "Come O House of Jacob let us walk in the light of the Lord" - its rather a standing joke for us.

Anyway, I digress. The verse that came into my head was: Matthew 10:29-31 "Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing? and one of them shall not fall on the ground without your Father.
But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear ye not therefore, ye are of more value than many sparrows."

I am not sure why anyone would want to buy a sparrow. I assume to either eat or sacrifice. But I take the point and smile. God's gentle reminder that He cares about me, cares about my energy levels, the biopsy (why haven't they called me?), the little aches and pains. No need to kavetch. I will just rest in the knowledge that He is intimately interested in my wellbeing, and remember that He is well suited for the task.