Worth More than Sparrows, from Head to Sole

During yesterday's morning prayer, this verse leapt out at me from my prayer book (Phyllis Tickle's The Divine Hours):

"Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground unperceived by your Father. And even the hairs of your head are all counted. So do not be afraid; you are of more value than many sparrows."  Matthew 10:  29-31

It's no wonder that the verse appeals to me. 

We've been having day after day of scary storms, the kind of storm with dramatic lightning and wind howling around the buildings and rattling the doors, the kind of storm where I wonder if I should go to a windowless room closer to the center of the building.

Yesterday was also a day where there was some kind of horrific crime, officers shot, the Florida Turnpike shut down in both directions. I was grateful to scoot home before the traffic problems in the west of the county spread across the whole tri-county area.

It's been the kind of week where I'm glad to make it home and happy when I see that my spouse is home safe too.  So many people got home late last night or didn't get home at all--but it does look like the 3 shot officers will live.  One was shot in the neck and is still expected to survive.  Let us now say a prayer of thanks for the powers of modern medicine.

This bit of Psalm has also been rattling around my head.  I hear it as promise and hope.

"Bless our God, you peoples; make the voice of his praise to be heard;
Who holds our souls in life, and will not allow our feet to slip."  Psalm 66: 7-8

I love this vision of God who knows me from the individual hairs of my head to the rough soles of my feet.  I like this vision of God who helps me travel through the dangerous parts of the world.  I want to believe that I am worth more than sparrows, and I want to believe that in God's economy, sparrows are worth more than two pennies.