I looked out of the window by our kitchen table and watched Sparrows, Black-capped Chickadees, startling red Cardinals and their neutral colored mates, and the noisy Blue Jays.  I checked our bird identification book to identify which species had stopped to eat, noting their color, size, markings, shape of their beaks; more than I had ever noticed before.

I became the Chairman of the Bird Board.  I read my bird book with my morning coffee, discovering what seeds each type of bird likes to eat, where they nest. I bought feeders, birdseed, suet and found a recipe for nectar for Hummingbirds and Baltimore Orioles. I bought custom described seeds and soon observed that most types of birds will eat most types of seed.

Filling over twenty feeders was taking more of my time. Dan and I enjoyed window bird watching all day every day – morning through evening.  We were visited by 2 or 3 Cardinal families, pushy, noisy Blue Jays, Finch varieties – Goldfinch, House Finch, and Purple Finch.  A surprise visit from 2 Red Breasted Grosbeaks and their mates was a treat, and the black and bright orange Baltimore Orioles appeared – a rare treat. Woodpeckers – the Downy, Hairy, Red Bellied, pecked at the suet. Not in my plan were the Blackbirds, Starlings and Cowbirds who came in flocks, landing on the ground, eating spilled over seed, later flying up to the feeders and gobbling them dry. They were the bullies in the school yard and scared every smaller bird away.

As the Chairman of the Bird Board, I had to take control.  When the bigger birds interrupted the feeding flow at the feeders, I had a block of wood that I banged on the wall from my vantage point inside. In fact, I had 2 wood blocks for 2 areas. That worked!  But only for a minute or so. 

They came back. I banged. They came back.  Dan tried to help me by waving his arms in the air or banging the table.  The bully birds left.  They came back.  Again.  And again.  The banging became a patterned and annoying ritual. 

I remember the late Ethel Waters singing “His Eye is on the Sparrow” and marveled at the way God watched over even those tiny birds.  I hummed that song and as I watched the birds out the window while fixing dinner or cleaning up the kitchen.  I looked out at the many birds, gave thanks for their beauty and brightness, and hummed that song.  The chorus of the song, “I sing because I’m happy, I sing because I’m free!  For His Eye is on the sparrow, so I know He watches me.”  I loved that part – “…I know He watches me”. 

I was brought back to abrupt reality.  The banging on the table, the wall, my yelling through the screen, the waving of Dan’s arms, all pushed out the peace I had enjoyed while watching my storybook feeder picture of many types of birds gathered in our backyard. 

I had to put a stop to it. I declared a new rule.  We would ignore the rude and pushy blackbirds, the starlings, even those cowbirds who moved in to takeover any nest of any other bird.

I surrendered.  I will look the other way; I will buy seed more often. 

I watched as the blackbirds flew in, crowded into feeders used by small sparrows, pecked at the suet enjoyed by all the woodpeckers.  The smaller birds left as they saw the blackbirds coming in for a

landing.  I was tempted to get out my block of wood again, but I had made a “rule”, and was determined to stick to it.  

Funny thing, when you surrender to what is God’s plan, it works.  My giving in taught me what “His Eye is on the sparrow” really means. Birds live together in their own type of harmony. The blackbirds came in a flurry, but didn’t stay long. After they left, the other birds came back, one by one.  It shouldn’t have been a surprise since I’ve seen it in so many other parts of my life, but leaving it in God’s hands works!  His eye really is on the sparrow, taking care of the small, the unnoticed.  And He is watching over me. That’s His plan.

Copyright Myrna Estey Coleman

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A BIT OF HISTORY:

“His Eye Is on the Sparrow,” became famous during the Billy Graham Evangelistic services as Ethel Waters sang it with the great crusade choirs.  This song had an unusual birth, authored by Civilla D. Martin, a Canadian lady who had been educated in Nova Scotia. She taught school for a short time before meeting and marrying Dr. William Martin, an evangelist and musician of sorts. Together, they enjoyed a ministry. Civilla wrote the lyrics and said this about her inspiration to write the song.

“Early in the spring of 1905, my husband and I were sojourning in Elmira, New York. We developed a deep friendship for a couple by the name of Mr. and Mrs. Doolittle – true saints of God. Mrs. Doolittle had been bedridden for nigh 20 years. Her husband was an incurable cripple who had to propel himself to and from his business in a wheel chair.”

Civilla continued, “Despite their afflictions, they lived happy Christian lives, bringing inspiration and comfort to all who knew them. One day, while we were visiting with the Doolittles, my husband commented on their bright hopefulness and asked them for the secret of it. Mrs. Doolittle’s reply was simple: ‘His eye is on the sparrow, and I know he watches me.’ The beauty of this simple expression of boundless faith gripped the hearts and fired the imagination of Dr. Martin and me. The song ‘His Eye Is on the Sparrow’ was the outcome of that experience.”

Dr. Martin tried writing a musical setting for the poem, but they were not satisfied with it, and sent the lyrics to Charles H. Gabriel, an experienced musician and songwriter, asking him to write some fitting music for her lyrics. He did so and his melody has been the vehicle that carried Civilla Martin’s poem around the world.

“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.”

Chorus

“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.”

“Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing? And one of them shall not fall on the ground without your Father… Fear ye not therefore, ye are of more value than many sparrows.” – Matthew 10:29