A Song of Promises

In the spring of  '98, my daughter and I moved from the only home she had known.  Apartment living was necessary following a divorce and the dissolution of our family.  We were recovering from Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome resulting from prolonged abuse.  Though funds were meager, we needed to put our "handprints" on the apartment walls.  She found a clock at Wal-Mart that she *had* to have.  Different photos of North American Birds replaced the numbers; and the clock chirped each hour with the corresponding bird's signature song. It wasn't long before we recognized the time by birdsong. 

An included pamphlet described the male and female birds, the nest, the eggs, and the hatchlings.  It also described each bird's song.  For eleven of the birds, there was only one song.  Some birds, like Whip-or-wills or Bobwhites, sang their names.  Others, like Crows, mearly squawked.  But one bird had multiple songs - the little sparrow. 

I find it amazing that God chose to bestow such a gift on a nondescript little bird.  The sparrow isn't beautiful to look at like a Cardinal, and none of its songs are the stuff of legends like a  Nightingale's.   Sparrows aren't even popular for Bird Watching, but they are precious to God.

Our first days in the apartment were dark and difficult - filled with counseling and prayer.  Eight months after her father's arrest, we both still trembled and cried out in the night from flashbacks and nightmares. She was so terrified of a tiny sprinkling rain, she would run to my bed shaking so hard that the whole bed quaked.   Through it all, we  felt God's love through the prayers and hugs of family and friends.

Gradually tears and terrors were replaced by joy and laughter.  God didn't forget us or forsake us.  He held our shattered hearts together and taught them to beat again.  He filled our lungs with breath when we didn't have the strength or will to breathe on our own.  He didn't promise our path would be easy, but He promised to go before us and make our paths straight.  He didn't promise to put back together that which had been shattered, but He promised to make all things new and restore what was lost.  He gave us new songs to sing.

My little girl is now my Prodigal Daughter.  In her quest for independence, she has turned away from God and faces harsh consequences because of her choices.  "I'm grown and I can do what I want to!" has replaced her Godsong.  My heart is shattered again and I find it difficult to sing.  But I trust God to bring us through.  I am like the sparrow.  He promises not to forget about me or to push me aside as being unimportant.  He knows my name and He will place a new song in my heart.