The Very Real Tale of a Brown Shoe

Once upon a time a sparrow had a great pair of brown shoes. Brown shoes that had taken her to far-away places, and to work. They looked great. They felt great. And they were tucked away in the sparrow's nest to make room for sandal-wearing days.

The season passed. And by and by the sparrow donned her brown slacks and brown shoes. Surprise! Gone was the nice white stitching and in its place was a rip; a rip which grew one-half inch bigger upon each wearing. (Perhaps no one would notice the ripped shoe, with part of my foot showing?)

Alas, the week finally arrived to do some sparrow brown shoe shopping.

Tale Takes a Turn.

On Friday an opportunity came knocking. I had the privilege of being a small help to a dear ministry couple. It was help that was needed that day of that week.

It was fun to place my shoe money in their hands. A lot more fun than going brown shoe shopping.

The Tale Ending.

The next day mr. sparrow announces he has several bags of hand-me-down clothing given to us.

Yep, or chirp, one bag is full of shoes. Blue shoes, black shoes, taupe shoes - all that I liked and not one fit!  And there in the middle of that pile of shoes lay a perfectly new looking pair of brown shoes. Shoes the style I would have chosen myself for casual wear.

I felt a little Cinderella-ish as I slid my foot down into the brown shoe. Chirp! Chirp! It fit! Upon further investigation, not only was it my perfect size - they were  Aerosoles, a better shoe than I was planning to "spend."

And not only did Cindyrella Sparrow gain one pair of brown shoes, behold! there in the pile was another. One more perfect fit in the whole pile. A pair of beautiful dress-up brown naturalizers, with a small bow!

A sparrow's double blessing! Both brown and both my size and my style.

Is God not amazing? I have four brown shoes to prove it!

4 Shoes go on to live happily ever after, or at least until the next life lesson.

Flying together,
margi

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Sparrow No Cook

At least not today. Today I came home from work and this is what greeted me.

Stuffed Pepper Casserole - perfected by mr. sparrow. He makes the best. And when he is not using his building skills in the kitchen, his other favorite spot is here.



Fishing. At his favorite spot-Lake Erie, Camp Patmos on Kelley's Island.

Because on these white pages I want to record some special flight miles to remember, this is one of those posts. This year two thousand ten marks the 25th anniversary of Sparrow's Blissdom!  

I didn't know 25 years ago the fisherman would turn cook. I love this guy.

His relationship was new to the Words of Life when we married. But he chose this as our life verse. "God has done great things for us whereof we are glad."

Glad and gladder!

Time to nibble on the cheesy crunchy top layer of the casserole. It's delicious, already nibbled.

Thanks for sharing the chirp,

margi

PS - Pictures! Thanks Dave A. for your help. A sparrow needs a right hand, er wing.

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Sparrow's Upside Down

The thermometer reads 58. And I am not hanging upside down today. I'm snuggled under my favorite sparrow covering. Inside, where it is warm.

While I am not standing on my head, I am trying to fly in an upside down kingdom. You know the place? Jesus set it forth in his words written in red. Those phrases that seem contradictory but are profoundly true. Like...

Go down to go up
Let go to receive
Lose to find
Poor are rich 
Weak are strong

I think of all the energy I expend trying to fly right-side-up. Come to find out, I need to be flying upside down.

And before I go and practice more upside-downness, I'll chirp one last thought that I found this past month. A thought most profound for this little sparrow. 

In light of eternity, most of what matters to us now will seem absolutely insignificant, and conversely, things that seem insignificant to us now will seem monumental when we stand before God.

Lord, help me get this right.

Now it's time for homemade chicken vegetable soup chock full of vitamins and minerals that I made for mr. sparrow on this sweetest day.  Because mister is the very best and because I don't know any other mister I'd rather hang (upside down) with.

margi
 

the tongue-tied sparrow

I wanted to add some words to this white space before I forget how to post. Please forgive my absence.

The sparrow has not fallen out of the nest. The sparrow has not so decreased her calorie intake making her too anemic to write. The sparrow is not taking a very long nap.

The sparrow has been processing some very difficult friend-of-the-family-tragic-accident news.

Praying, Reading. Crying. Running (make that jogging).

A lot for a sparrow to process. A lot for a sparrow to watch her children process.

After two weeks on this journey, here in part is where I end up.

Ask the right question. Although it is not unspiritual to ask "why" - it will never bring hope. Instead, ask the "what" question. Now that this has happened, God, what do you want us to do with it?

There is a world of purpose, hope, and peace in getting the question right.

"My peace I give to you. Don't let your hearts be troubled or afraid."

Sparrow chooses to fly with the What.

No longer tongue-tied. But free to boldly share purpose and hope and comfort and God's greatness in the midst of a sorrowing accident.

To Jeremy - you've got a sparrow praying friend. But better - you've got a very Big God.

margi