The Spiritual Taxonomy of a Sparrow

The most amazing things cross your eyes if you are looking for them.

The other day, I looked out  my kitchen window and saw three sparrows on our deck eating seed that had spilled from our bird feeder. 

Now I am not especially knowledgeable about bird species, but I knew these were sparrows.

However, they were a kind of sparrow that I had never seen before, and I immediately dubbed them “chipmunk sparrows” since their markings resembled those of  a chipmunk.

They had dark brown stripes on their heads, chests, and wings, alternating with rust colored stripes.

They were plump little fellows and seemed to stride around the deck.

I asked my husband what they were and he said they were a  form of native sparrow—not English—and he went to find our bird identification book for some  more information.

But then I realized that I was not really interested in the taxonomy of the birds.

Instead, what appealed to me was the fullness of a God, who had so many patterns to choose from that he could duplicate one pattern in two different species of animals.

It’s a sort of divine mix-and-match approach to creation.

Just think of the platypus.

When the first platypus was shipped from Australia to England, people thought that it was a hoax:  an animal with a duck’s bill and webbed feet, a beaver’s tail, and an otter’s body and fur.

And some  people think God has no sense of humor.