Sparrow Being Sparrow by Gail Donovan

Author:Gail Donovan
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Atheneum Books for Young Readers
Published: 2023-07-25T00:00:00+00:00

21

“Welcome!” said the Sunday school lady. “I’m Miss Cathy, and this is my helper, Miss Lucy.”

“Hey!” said a teenage girl, with a big smile. She had braces on her teeth that were the exact same light, bright blue color as her eyes.

Then the kids all went around and said their names. Amelia, who was in second grade. Lionel, third grade. Hayden, third. And Anton and Sparrow. They were the oldest.

“Today we’re going to talk about prayer,” said Miss Cathy. “Can anyone tell me how to pray?”

“Like this!” said Anton, clapping his hands together.

“Like that,” agreed Miss Cathy. “And when you put your hands together, which finger is closest to you?”

Nobody answered.

“It’s the thumb, isn’t it?” said Miss Cathy. “So the first thing we pray for are the people closest to us. That might be your mom or dad, or your brother or sister. Okay? Next comes our pointer finger. It reminds us to pray for people who point us in the right direction, like your teachers.”

Miss Cathy kept going. The tall finger reminded them to pray for those in authority, like the president of the United States. The next finger was for those who were suffering or in any sort of trouble. Then she held up her pinky finger. “And our little finger reminds us that we are small and God is great. When we get to the little finger, we ask for God’s help. Any questions?”

Sparrow raised her hand. “What about animals?”

Miss Cathy smiled. “What about them?”

“Which finger is for animals? Is it on the other hand?”

“No, we only use one hand,” said Miss Cathy.

“But you said to put your hands together,” said Anton. “So there’s five more fingers! Like, the thumb could be for dogs.”

“Dinosaurs!” jumped in Hayden. “Can one finger be for dinosaurs?”

“They’re extinct,” said Lionel.

“You could pray for them to come back!” said Hayden.

“Sunday school friends!” said Miss Cathy. “We only use one hand to help us remember how to pray. But if you have an animal you want to pray for, go right ahead. Now I want everyone to put their hand on their paper, and Miss Lucy will trace it, and you can color it in. And when you’re done coloring, we’ll have snack.”

Coloring in your hand seemed like a craft activity for little kids. And Sparrow didn’t really like people doing things for her that she could do herself. She could have traced her own hand. But while Miss Lucy was running a thick black marker around Sparrow’s fingers, she said, in a low voice just for Sparrow, “I like your idea, to pray for animals,” and Sparrow decided that if she ever had braces, she would get that light, bright blue color. She took a blue marker and began coloring.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.