Think Big?
Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? You are of more value than many sparrows. – Matthew 10:29-31 excerpt (NRSV)
I can’t stop thinking about the giant ship stuck in the Suez Canal, the “Ever Given.”
It gave new meaning to the Lilliputians, the little ones that have so much power. It also reminded me of God’s regard for the human and the sparrow.
In the Suez Canal, “big” came under a kind of comic, nearly tragic surveillance. It looked fat in those clothes. The whole experience restored my sense of humor about that old line, “too big for your britches.”
My kids often called their parents, the “bigs,” as in, “What do you think the ‘bigs’ will say if we do that?” I wonder what it’s like for kids to feel so small. I love people who bend down when they talk to kids.
27,000 tons of sand were applied to lift the level of the sea so the boat could get unstuck and get back on the way to Walmarts and Targets with its load.
They failed.
The giant cranes failed.
Instead of the Red Sea parting, it clogged.
Along came the full moon, using a kind of magnetic energy to lift the water, and liberation occurred. I love that the end of the story (if it is really over) is menstrual, seasonal, lunar.
The meaning? Don’t get too big for your canals. It’s like a 90-pound woman delivering a 14-pound baby. It hurts. The birth canal hurts.
Think big? No. Think small.
Prayer
God’s eye is on the sparrow. Why God would be that way I don’t know. I just know God thinks seasonally, regularly, and small. Amen.
About the AuthorDonna Schaper is Senior Minister at Judson Memorial Church in New York City. Her most recent book is I Heart Francis: Letters to the Pope from an Unlikely Admirer.