December 5, 2025 - The Way I See the World

 The Way I See the World

By: Lori Wheeler

Friday, December 5, 2025

Before moving to West Plains after retiring from teaching, my husband and I lived deep in the Mark Twain National Forest. We raised our children there, surrounded by nature’s quiet rhythms for nearly 25 years. I absolutely loved it. With windows on every side of the house, and hardly a curtain in sight, I could look out and see God’s creation from every room. I prayed out loud, walked in the woods, and felt so close to Him there.

Now I live in a neighborhood where dogs bark and cars sometimes race by, but I’ve met so many people and heard so many stories. I have heard and become connected to the stories people share, stories of life, love, and sometimes despair and hardship. And in all of it, God is here too. I still spend time in my garden, talk to my flowers, and appreciate the world He created. But as I prepare for this season, readying my home in remembrance of the One who has already come and will come again, I’m reminded of a spring morning in 2013.

I was cleaning the house when I heard a strange clicking sound. I went to the window, but even the dogs hadn’t barked, so I went on with my cleaning. However, throughout the day, the same sound returned. Eventually I noticed a cardinal perched on a branch near the deck and every time I looked out, there he was. Early the next morning, it happened again. This time, I grabbed my coffee, pulled up a chair at the dining room table, and decided to watch.

It was the same cardinal, and now he had my full attention. But I couldn’t understand his behavior. For days, he returned. I tried everything to distract him. I even tried placing a fake snake on the canopy, but he was determined. About two days in, I realized something else, a female cardinal sat quietly on a branch just inside the woods, watching him. All day, from sunup to sundown, he slammed himself into my six-foot window and she never moved from her spot.

I even prayed for God to help this little bird.

Finally, I stepped outside to where he was. When I turned back toward the house, I saw it, and my heart sank. The window reflected the woods. From the cardinal’s point of view, he wasn’t attacking glass. He was trying to fly into the very world he was made to live in. He was doing what he believed he was called to do, to prepare a safe place for his family. All he needed to do was turn around and fly a different direction. But he never did. Eventually, he died trying to do the right thing, but in the wrong way because he never realized he could change his approach.

Another male cardinal had been waiting nearby, and after the first one died, he stepped in and cared for the faithful female who had been watching all along. They went on to raise a cardinal family that summer.

God reveals Himself to us in so many ways through His creation, often offering insight into things that feel difficult for us to grasp. As we enter this Advent season in 2025, we once again find ourselves in a time of holy waiting. We prepare our hearts to celebrate the birth of Christ, yet we also hold close the promise that He will come again, not as a child in a manger, nor as the suffering servant on the cross, but as our Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, and Prince of Peace.

As a church family, we know what it feels like to struggle. In many ways, we are like that determined little cardinal, we often work with sincere hearts but limited perspective. We extend invitations, we gather food and ensure it reaches those who need it, we prepare our spaces so that anyone who enters feels welcomed, valued, and cared for. Sometimes people return; sometimes they do not. And yet, people are fed, hearts are touched, and God sees the faithfulness behind every act of service.

But when we look back to the church described in Acts, we see a community built not on programs or attendance, but on relationships. This church example was grounded in deep, spirit-filled relationships rooted in shared meals, shared worship, and shared life. Relationships with Christ at the center, where Jesus moved among the people and met each one right where they were. That kind of community reached far beyond walls and gathered many into God’s family.

We have been commissioned to go, and sometimes that calling will take shapes that look different from what we’ve known before. So how do we remain faithful to that mission during this in-between time, this time between Christ’s humble arrival in Bethlehem and His promised return as King of Kings? The world is watching, longing for hope, and waiting for the Church to lead with grace and courage. 

It may require new eyes, new approaches, and a willingness to let the Holy Spirit guide us in ways that stretch us beyond what we have always done and known. Beyond what may be comfortable. Advent invites us to pause, to listen, and to ask whether we are walking in the direction God is calling us. 

May God change how we see the world as he opens our eyes and our hearts this Advent season, that we may see what He sees, hear what He is asking, and faithfully serve Him as we wait with hope.

God of hope, who brought love into this world,

be the love that dwells between us.

God of hope, who brought peace into this world,

be the peace that dwells between us.

God of hope, who brought joy into this world,

be the joy that dwells between us.

God of hope, the rock we stand upon,

be the centre, the focus of our lives

always, and particularly this Advent time.

Amen

Prayers for Advent - FaithAndWorship.com