A Little Bird Told Me

One of my favorite Christmas time stories tells of a man who was not really much of a Christian. In fact, he considered himself more of an agnostic. He would believe in God if he could see any sense in it, but he never really went to church, because he felt no need. His family, however, and especially his wife were very devout. They went regularly to services and worshiped with the others there.

One Christmas Eve, the family dressed and went out into the cold and snowy night to church. The man preferred to stay home by the cozy, warm fire and read. As he was sitting there alone, he heard a thump or a crack at the window. He looked out, but saw nothing. Then he heard it again. It was as if someone were throwing something against the glass. When he went over to the window, he saw a tiny sparrow lying stunned in the snow, and he watched with interest as the little bird slowly got up and fluttered to a nearby branch. The poor creature sat there all huddled and cold looking in the window where it was obviously warm and dry. Then it flew toward the window and hit the glass with a thump. Again, it fell back into the snow.

Finally, the man realized what the sound he had heard was. It was the sparrow trying to get to a place that was warm and dry. The man felt sorry for the little bird, and decided to let it in. He opened the window, but the bird became frightened and fluttered away. Then the man went to the door, and opened it, but the bird only hopped to another branch further from the large scary figure of the man. The more the man tried to encourage the bird to come in and be warm, the further away the bird went, until, finally it flew away all together.

This bothered the man extremely, and he couldn’t say why. He thought of all the ways he could have tried to get the little bird to come in. He might have put out some seed or suet to lure it in. He might have left the door open and gone away, but then the house wouldn’t have stayed warm and inviting for long. He thought of all kinds of things, but the only way he could think of that would have effectively gotten that little bird to come into the house would be if he could become a bird himself. Then he could have told the bird that the man wasn’t so frightening, that he meant no harm. He could have led the way, showing the bird how to come in and where to get warm.

Just then his family arrived home, with the children all excited and singing merrily. And his wife asked him how his evening had been. He thought about it a moment and then he said, “Very good, indeed. A little bird came and told me a Christmas story about how God came to earth to be human like us, and to show us the way to heaven.”