There came a time once in a beautiful forest; the wind whipped through the valley and the sun shined brightly. The honeybees darted from flower to flower, the butterflies danced upon the blossoms and the squirrels chattered high up in the trees. It was the beginning of another lazy summer day in the forest or was it!
Somewhere, in the thickness of the forest, a sparrow fell. The sense of his falling spread throughout the forest. It stirred panic, chaos and confusion. Quickly, the blue jay took flight and flew from tree to tree.
“A sparrow has fallen, a sparrow has fallen,” he cried. “But, we do not know where.”
Nearby, a robin tugging on a worm heard the cry of the blue and quickly began to stir. The tiny hummingbird, who only moments before had been drinking nectar from a trumpet vine, darted to and fro looking. Unfortunately, he saw nothing. The red bird also took flight. High in the trees he flew with the blue jay and robin searching and looking for the fallen sparrow. The finches, wrens and fellow sparrows barely flew above the forest floor searching the ground for their missing friend.
Their cries could be heard throughout the forest. Across the golden valley of the meadow, the red wing blackbird sat perched upon a cattail listening. Hearing the news of the fallen sparrow, he quickly took flight to help with the search. High in the sky the eagle soared around and around.
“A sparrow has fallen, a sparrow has fallen!” yelled the blue jay.
As the day lingered on, they searched diligently for the missing sparrow. But, there was no trace of him. They continued to search and search but found nothing. There wasn’t even a feather or weakened chirp; all was quiet. There was no sign of the sparrow anywhere to be found. They were about to give up when suddenly high atop the big oak tree, the wise old owl spoke.
“Why, why are you searching so diligently?” he asked.
“Why do we search so diligently?” the blue jay replied. “Have you not heard!” shouted the blue jay. “A sparrow has fallen and we know not where.”
The owl cocked his head and asked, “Why have you not called upon the Lord and asked Him where the fallen sparrow may be? He sees and knows all things. Why did you not ask Him first?” questioned the owl.
“Well, I never thought of that,” replied the blue jay. “It happened so fast.”
The owl spoke again, “If you will seek the Lord, you will find the fallen sparrow. Whoo, whoo,” the owl cried as he flew away.
The blue jay sat for a moment and gathered his thoughts. The robin and the red bird flew to his side.
“Blue jay, have you found the sparrow?” they asked.
“No, I haven’t,” he replied. “But I know one who knows where he may be found.”
“Who is that?” they questioned.
“The Lord, He knows where the sparrow lies! Let us sing unto Him,” cried the blue jay. “Let all the others sing unto Him,” he cried throughout the forest, “that He may hear our cries and the sparrow shall be found.”
All the birds began to sing. Their chirping and whistling went high into Heaven. The Lord was listening. He heard their songs and was pleased. Gently, He blew a mighty gust of wind from Heaven to the forest below, rustling the leaves. There underneath one of the leaves was the sparrow they had been searched so diligently for.
Amazingly, the sparrow took flight in the wind and flew high toward Heaven. The blue jay, robin, red bird and all the others were relieved. They chirped songs of joy and praise unto the Lord. The fallen sparrow that was lost had been found!