It was a dreary morning, outside and inside. One brother accidentally kicked another while flipping over the couch, which led to hitting which led to crying. Another brother hit a different brother (I know, so many brothers!). And one boy declared he “hates school,” which is hard not to take personally when you’re homeschooling.
It was Bible time. I was tempted to skip it because everyone was grumpy, and I didn’t have anything planned anyway. A friend reminded me last night on the phone, though, to be faithful to open the Word of God with our kids every day, never knowing when there will be a breakthrough.
I told the big boys to look up “thanksgiving” in the concordances of their Bibles, and Calvin chose this verse:
"I will praise the name of God with a song;
I will magnify him with thanksgiving.”
-Psalm 69:30
What does “magnify” make you think of?
Magnets! (not exactly what I was going for)
I re-directed them to how magnifying glasses make things look bigger. We talked about how we can’t make God bigger since He is already so big. BUT, we can make Him bigger in our eyes and in our priorities.
The thought came to me to have the boys make a tiny pinhole circle with one hand to look at our Christmas tree. It reminds me of the line from the song "I have made You too small in my eyes. O Lord, forgive me."
So, friends, this Thanksgiving, "magnify the Lord with me, and let us exalt his name together!" (Psalm 34:3). When our thanksgiving is not just a generic gratitude but directed toward the Source of "every good and perfect gift" (James 1:17), we magnify Him. Our eyes widen in awe. "The things of earth grow strangely dim...when we turn our eyes upon Jesus."
And later this morning when tempted to grumble about the rain keeping us indoors, we busted out the umbrellas and I sang in the rain instead:
Beautiful! Good thoughts for children and old people alike!! This day I will choose to magnify Him instead of the circumstances! Thank you for sharing Mary.
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