Why "The Ardent Sparrow"?

Many people have been asking me the question... "Why the Ardent Sparrow?"... Well... Here is the story...

When I first began planning my store on Etsy, I knew I wanted a name that was rather unique... I had spent the whole day looking at supplies on-line and constantly found myself drawn to the antique brass birds... Birds are very symbolic... For me, what comes to mind when I think of a bird, is a text from the Gospel of Matthew:

Matthew 6:26
"Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?" (ESV)

In this context, Jesus is reminding His followers not to worry about what they shall eat or drink... He is reassuring them that the heavenly Father will take care of all of their needs, just as He does for even the smallest bird...

When I was a child, we used to sing a song in Sunday School with the lyrics, "God sees the little sparrow fall, It meets His tender view; If God so loves the little birds, I know He loves me, too." (Lyrics by Maria Straub, 1874)

So... When I think of the sparrow, I reminded of a Sovereign God's care for all of His creatures... Including me... And this calm's my heart!

With images of lovely little antique brass birds and the words of that simple children's hymn running through my head, I settled on something to do with a sparrow... But what kind of sparrow? I knew it needed a word before it... And for some reason I thought that word should with the letter t... Why? I have no idea... But not just any word would do!

After much discussion with my husband Jay (He has quite an infinity for words) and much time spent on an on-line thesaurus, I stumbled upon the word ardent... I word I had always liked (I wanted you use the name Arden for our little girl... I was out-voted)... Ardent means being characterized by intense feeling, passionate, fervent, devoted, eager, or enthusiastic... All words that I felt described my love of making and creating jewellery... And the type of emotions that Etsy began to stir in my heart...

It also reminds me that I need to be a passionate, devoted and eager follower of a Sovereign, all-knowing Lord who remembers even my smallest need... A Lord who has guided my steps to this point... To a small little shop on Etsy...