His eye is on the sparrow

The least of these... (originally posted Oct. 01, 2008 by Wendy Spoon)

There is a woman that I work for occassionally by running errands or taking her to her doctors appointments, etc. Today I went to work with her. She had been caring for a bird for the past five days. It had been attacked by a stray cat and appeared to be blind and have a broken leg. She just wanted the poor little bird to die so that it wouldn't continue to suffer. She was afraid that in its condition that it wouldn't survive on its own. She couldn't bring herself to harm the bird, so she asked me to break its neck, and I was afraid as well, so I asked the guys on her yard crew if they would come and break the sparrow's neck. So the guys came around back and looked the bird over. They were sure it could be nursed back to health. So I said, " My goodness, kill it already, it's just a sparrow." And my friend said in gentle reply, "But Wendy, HIS eye is on the sparrow." Those simple words reminded me of the depth of God's love for each any every living thing. The man who was most concerned over the little bird gently cleaned the eyes of the bird and was going to put ointment on its leg when the sparrow found they strength to fly away. It was such a relief to know that the bird would make it. And the lesson I learned because of it I hope to not soon forget.

His Eye Is on the Sparrow from Wikipedia
"His Eye Is on the Sparrow" is a Gospel hymn. Although today it is a staple of African-American worship services, the song was originally written in 1905 by two white songwriters, lyricist Civilla D. Martin and composer Charles H. Gabriel. The song is most associated with actress-singer Ethel Waters who used the title for her autobiography.
The song has been performed extensively in Gospel music with notable versions by Shirley Caesar, Crystal Lewis, Marvin Gaye (from In Loving Memory), Kirk Franklin & the Family, Lauryn Hill & Tanya Blount (from Sister Act 2), Mahalia Jackson, Sister Rosetta Tharpe, Dottie West, and Barbara Mandrell. Jessica Simpson recorded the song for her 2001 album Irresistible.

Inspiration - The theme of the song is inspired by the words of Jesus in the Gospel of Matthew in the Bible.

Matthew 6:26
26 Look at the birds of the air; they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?
Matthew 10:29-31.
29 Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing? and one of them shall not fall on the ground without your Father.  30 But the very hairs of your head are all numbered.  31 Fear ye not therefore, ye are of more value than many sparrows.

Civilla Martin, who wrote the lyrics, said this about her inspiration to write the song based in the scriptures outlined above.

Early in the spring of 1905, my hus­band and I were so­journ­ing in El­mi­ra, New York. We con­tract­ed 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 twen­ty years. Her hus­band was an in­cur­a­ble crip­ple who had to pro­pel him­self to and from his bus­i­ness in a wheel chair. 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 hymn "His Eye Is on the Spar­row" was the out­come of that ex­per­i­ence.


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;
His eye is on the sparrow, and I know He watches me.

Refrain:
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.


"Let not your heart be troubled," His tender word I hear,
And resting on His goodness, I lose my doubts and fears;
Though by the path He leadeth, but one step I may see;
His eye is on the sparrow, and I know He watches me;
His eye is on the sparrow, and I know He watches me.

Refrain

Whenever I am tempted, whenever clouds arise,
When songs give place to sighing, when hope within me dies,
I draw the closer to Him, from care He sets me free;
His eye is on the sparrow, and I know He watches me;
His eye is on the sparrow, and I know He watches me.

Photo Courtesy Manon Ringuette