“I sing because I’m happy, I sing because I’m free, His eye is on the Sparrow and I know He watches me.” — 1905
Angelkeep grew up with that song in use — frequent use — and the words and tune lingered as boldly in the mental catalogue of music and hymns as “The Old Rugged Cross” or “Amazing Grace.”
Aging creates difficulties oftentimes for sleep patterns, Angelkeep certainly not exempt from that abnormality. Counting sheep never achieved the success its adulation seemed to indicate it worthy of. A better substitute at Angelkeep became prayer. By the time one thought through every family member, friend, and needy person of acquaintance in a short lifting upward upon their behalf, sleep usually ended the requests.
An alternative to prayer has always been praise. Praise can be spoken adulation, offerings of mentally spoken verbal thanks. More electrifying seemed to be the mental singing of hymns. Mental song always remained correctly on-key. Sadly modern day youth to middle adults will never have the mental library of memorized hymns engrained due to family church members repeating the same old favorite’s generation after generation.
This column’s opening song lyrics have nearly a fifth of a trillion Google options. Since the words flow freely at Angelkeep, of more interest was the sparrow the Lord keeps his eye on. Angelkeep too often overlooks the sparrows. Partially because so many varieties exist and Angelkeep has a clear lack of ability to differentiate one from another. As the cliché goes, they all look alike.
A past interest in a specific one came to mind this Easter season. Its crown markings stood out and it calmly posed in feeders’ fallen sunflower seeds offering close-up portraits of all sides. It proved a perfect opportunity to be educated at least on one variety.
The memory returned at Easter since the modeling bird proved to be a White-Crowned Sparrow. The true meaning of Easter, aside from jellybeans, hollow chocolate bunnies, and Peeps, involves a crowned Savior. What had been thought a common Nazarene carpenter had been crowned a King. It was a spiteful, hateful crowning with bloodletting, pain, and agony beyond comprehension. Death ensued, followed by resurrection. Angelkeep will make a week of this Easter’s celebration praise and feast.
Doubting Thomas failed to identify Christ quickly, not unlike Angelkeep and sparrows. He needed proof, also like Angelkeep and sparrows. The sparrow’s white head markings easily brought the White-Crowned Sparrow name to mind after absorbing the truth.
It took Thomas to not only see but feel the nail prints in Christ’s hands for him to be able to identify his Master King. As an alternative, a second chance, Christ probably could have lifted his bangs and allowed Thomas to feel the puncture scars across his forehead from his crown of thorns.
Of course those crown markings on Christ’s head had not been from white material. Christ’s crown dripped red blood by the end of the day. Thorn tips from Christ’s crown may have snapped off, even become festered and more painful as the hours dragged on.
Like the song stated of Christ’s eyes being on the sparrow, from the cross Christ’s eyes were not downward on soil soaked in his own blood, but upon his companions likewise crucified, and others gathered around. The song’s words gave meaning to that moment when facing death He proved He would never take his eyes off anyone, even a lowly sparrow.
Discovering Angelkeep’s White-Crowned Sparrow variety returns to memory each Easter season. When they really get wound up and excited about singing they can whistle up a storm. Research identified that it was almost always a male doing the singing, the female hardly ever a participant. Their gray, brown, and tan marking in addition to the white crown do not make them a flashy songbird. Thus they like most sparrows fail to get the recognition they deserve.
They really don’t care. They just continue to sing. They sing because they are happy. They sing because they are free.
When my eye is on this White-Crowned Sparrow at Easter time, I’m forever reminded My Crowned Christ’s eye is watching over me.
Birdwatching can be worshipful.
Mr. Daugherty is a Wells County resident who, along with his wife Gwen, enjoy their backyard and have named it “Angelkeep.”
