Gently
Why a sparrow
A sparrow is the smallest thing in the Bible that God is said to watch. Two for a penny, Jesus said, and not one of them falls to the ground without your Father knowing it. Then he said the part people remember: you are worth more than many sparrows.
I did not want a companion who had everything figured out. An owl is wise. A dove is the Holy Spirit, and you do not dress the Holy Spirit up as a cartoon. A sparrow is only a small bird that is watched. That is the position every one of us is in, and it is the position you are in on whatever night, or morning, you open this. So the companion in Gently is a sparrow. She does not know more than you do. She has only sat up more nights.
Fear not, therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows.Matthew 10:31
Why she is called Hannah
In the first chapter of 1 Samuel, a woman named Hannah went up to the temple and prayed with her lips moving and no sound coming out. The priest who was watching thought she was drunk. She was heard anyway.
Now Hannah, she spake in her heart; only her lips moved, but her voice was not heard.1 Samuel 1:13
That is the kind of prayer Gently was built for. Not the polished kind. The kind with no words in it. You can give her any name you like and she will answer to it. But that is why she came with this one.
Why a lamp
There is no score in Gently. No streak, no points, no number that goes back to zero when you miss a day. There is a lamp. It rests when you have been away. It is steady when you have been here. It is bright at night, when your prayer for tonight is ready.
Your word is a lamp unto my feet, the psalmist wrote. Nobody keeps score of a lamp. It is lit or it is resting, and either way it is still yours. It is the one thing here you carry yourself.
Your word is a lamp unto my feet.Psalm 119:105
Why it is called Gently
You were taught, probably without anyone meaning to, that real prayer has to be in your own words. The Bible never says that. David wrote the Psalms, and God's people have prayed them for three thousand years. When the disciples asked how to pray, Jesus gave them the words. On the cross, He prayed a Psalm.
Gently is that, for the whole day. A verse and a short reading when you wake. A verse on your screen before the apps you open most, if you want it there. A Bible you can read and ask about, with Hannah beside it. A prayer for the hour you are in, already written, that you only have to read or listen to. On the days you cannot pray, the verses that say you are prayed for anyway. And at the end of the day, a lamp that is still yours.
Most of the women I built this for carry a great deal: children, parents, a marriage, a prayer list longer than their arm. They are very good at carrying, and they are hard on themselves in a way they would never be on anyone else. So the name is not about what you are. It is about how you are treated here.
He tends his flock like a shepherd: he gathers the lambs in his arms and carries them close to his heart.Isaiah 40:11
And Jesus said of himself, "I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls." Nothing here will rush you, score you, or correct you. You are held gently. That is the whole idea.
Toni