Daily Devotional

The Cardinal in the Mirror

I call him “Red”. If you come to the church between 8:00 and 10:00am on any given day, you will know who I am referring to. Red has almost become a bit of a celebrity at Wesley Church because Red has a way of getting one’s attention. Some people find Red amusing, some find him annoying, and others feel sorry for Red.

If you haven’t met Red yet, allow me to introduce him to you. Red is a cardinal who, every day, flies into the glass windows around the sanctuary and around the office. It doesn’t take long before one hears the continual “clunk” and “thunk” of Red rushing beak- first against the windows early in the morning. Red goes from window to window, much to the amusement or sorrow of those who watch from the inside.

Although I am no expert on peculiar bird behavior, I have my own reasons why Red acts this way every morning.   I suspect Red sees his own reflection and believes it is another bird moving in on his territory. Red looks in the mirror and doesn’t like what he sees; he is threatened by the reflection of himself. I wonder if God sent Red to Wesley Church to teach us a lesson.

Do you ever fight with the person in the mirror? Have you ever looked at your own reflection and didn’t like what you saw? Did you ever try to chase that person away who is staring back at you?

Lent is a time of reflection and here at Wesley our theme this season will be “Taking a Good Hard Look”. Sometimes this can be difficult because we might be afraid of what we’ll find or worse, we already know what is there and we’d rather not face it.

I don’t know many people who at one time or another who haven’t wrestled with the person in the mirror. Even our friends in the Bible had to look at their own shortcomings; they too at times fought the person in the mirror. Yet here is our challenge and our choice. Unlike Red, we can choose to grow in Christ or we can choose to keep fighting the reflection.

This is not always easy, but here is some good news. God always takes the broken and the ugly and creates something beautiful if we place it in His hands. There is an old song that goes something like this: “His eye is on the sparrow, and I know He watches me”.

So go ahead and take a good hard look and remember God’s eye is on the sparrow, His eye is on Red, and His eye is on you and me.   Believe this and maybe that person in the mirror won’t be so scary after all.

By Dan Brown, Minister of Discipleship