I killed a bird. I didn’t mean to. I was driving Saturday morning and ahead I saw two black marks on the road in my lane. It really didn’t look like marks but something. As I got closer I could see the something was two small birds. Birds always fly away before it’s too late. But that one got up too slowly. Move bird! Looking in my rear view mirror I saw it lying upside down. I killed a bird.

Immediately after saying to myself, “It was just a bird,” a Bible verse assaulted me. “Are not two sparrows sold for a cent? And yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father” (Matthew 10:29). Hmmmm. God loves every life, even those we might consider to have very little worth. It is not just a bird. It is a life created by God and one that drew God’s attention just now. How can I take lightly a death that God does not?

God cares about lives we sometimes undervalue. “Praise the Lord! . . . who made heaven and earth, . . . who executes justice for the oppressed; who gives food to the hungry. The Lord sets the prisoners free. . . . The Lord protects the strangers; He supports the fatherless and the widow, . . . Praise the Lord! (Psalm 68 5-6). In the Levitical Law, God commanded, “You shall rise up before the grayheaded and honor the aged, . . .” (Leviticus 19:32).

God loves every life. If I love Him, I must love as He loves. He is watching those who are hurting, helpless, discarded, wounded, and alone. A very special calling have those who become God’s hands to help and arms to hold those people who have God’s special attention.

Lord, make our hearts tender, so that we never treat anyone as “just a bird.” May we always be touched by those who have fallen, and moved to action that accentuates their worth. Amen!