One late spring morning I was home with my 3 1/2 year old daughter, who was playing in the yard just outside. I was sitting in the living room reading the weekly Christian Science Bible Lesson when she came through the front door and handed me a badly wounded sparrow she’d found. Without a word she turned and went out again to play, leaving with that childlike “Dad, take care of this” trust and expectancy. The sparrow was bleeding, and a large feather fell out in my hand.

I sat down on the floor with the sparrow cupped in my hands. As I did so, it stopped moving, with eyes fixed and beak open. I closed my eyes in prayer, along the line of thought described on pages 476–477 of Science and Health—”Jesus beheld in Science the perfect man ... and this correct view of man healed the sick”—knowing that the same divine Principle that governs man governs all of God’s ideas. I declared the truth that the sparrow was the perfect creation of God, whose life could not be destroyed—made to fly, sing, and be free.

Suddenly, though at that time I didn’t fully comprehend what was happening, I sensed that my surroundings were enveloped in light, “above the brightness of the sun” (see Acts 26:13). With that, all negative thoughts were excluded from my consciousness, and I felt only God’s loving presence and power. I don’t know how long this lasted, but it was only a short time.

As this light began to disappear, I became aware that the sparrow was moving in my hands and wanted to be put down. So I put it down on the floor in front of me, but it couldn’t stand up. It rested on its stomach. By now I knew that God was in control and would take care of this sparrow completely. The Bible passage from Hebrews 4:12 came to my thought, which begins, “For the word of God is quick, and powerful ...” When I got to the part that reads, “...piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow,...” the sparrow stood up and hopped behind some furniture.

During the next several hours I continued prayerfully affirming the spiritual ideas that had been revealed to me. I tried to feed the sparrow, but it wouldn’t eat or drink anything. About three o’clock in the afternoon, while I was again sitting in the living room, holding to the thought of spiritual perfection, I heard a crashing sound coming from the next room. The sparrow had flown at the window trying to get out. At the time, I wasn’t confident it was strong enough to go out, so I went back to my studying. Then, about a half hour later, I heard another crashing sound and decided it was time to let the sparrow out so it wouldn’t hurt itself.

I opened the window, and the sparrow flew a few feet and landed on the grass. There was no fence around the front yard, and a large dog who was about 50 feet away saw the sparrow and started running toward it. At that instant, all I could think was, “NO! God’s healing work is done and it cannot be reversed.” In those few seconds I reaffirmed God’s complete protection and care for the sparrow, and the thought came, “For he spake, and it was done; he commanded, and it stood fast” (Ps. 33:9).

When the dog got within about ten feet of the sparrow, the bird took off and flew about a half a block away to a large tree that was filled with other chirping sparrows. Its flight was strong and straight, not wobbling or faltering.

That was the last I saw of the sparrow. But looking at the busy tree, I thought to myself, “What a ‘welcome home’ committee,” and could only imagine what the bird’s answer might have been if the others had asked, “And how was your day?”

Like Moses, pondering why “the bush burned with fire, and the bush was not burned” (see Ex. 3:2), I wondered what significance the appearance of the light had held for me. Years passed before understanding dawned on my consciousness. One day, as I was again revisiting that experience, the thought came: “What were you thinking just before the light appeared?” I remembered that I was declaring the absolute perfection of the sparrow, just as Jesus held in thought the perfection of God’s creation. I realized that holding to the “correct view” of the sparrow was the central truth, or key, that had healed. The light of Life, Truth, and Love had so filled my consciousness that nothing unlike God could enter in.

I thought about the statement in the Bible that reads: “Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing? and one of them shall not fall on the ground without your Father” (Matt. 10:29). Truly—to paraphrase the old gospel hymn—God’s eye was on that sparrow.

I am grateful that no matter what situation presents itself, we can always turn in prayer to the Bible and Science and Health, and listening for God’s voice, find the answer that brings healing.