Magnifying Glass

       So I'm picking up some dry cleaning, and the sweet lady ringing me up says, "How are you today?"  And I say, "Fine.  Good.   How are you?"    And she says, "Fine... yes.  Fine."   And then it just hangs there.  And I walk out feeling like...  ah, that was empty.  Surfacy.   Really being, 'real, Lori....
      Or, even worse, I could say, "Well, it's been a crappy day!  You?"   And she can relate, "Oh, me too, my car broke down, my boss is mad at me.....  I can't wait to get out of here....."   And now the atmosphere of the place is really hopeful....    NOT!!   :)   If I just leave it there, now we're focused on the very real yuck of the world.    But I don't want to leave it there!  Don't I have very real hope to offer?   Don't I have an abiding peace that no circumstance can altar?   Don't I have some good news that might be just exactly what she needs to hear?   There's a God who loves us and cares!!! 
       So I ask the Lord,  help me do better!      Then I read this:

"Oh, magnify the Lord with me, And let us exalt His name together!"  Ps.34:3
                  To "magnify"  something/someone is to what?  Well, I started thinking about what we use a magnifying glass for:   to make something bigger, larger, easier to see.   To bring it closer so we can examine it, to bring it into clearer focus....
             This is my heart's cry:   that my life would bring the focus around to my God and how great is His love for us!   "Your Name and your renown are the desires of my heart!" Isaiah 26:8
            I love how David went about doing just this:   the verses preceeding this one make it clear:    "I will bless the Lord at all times;   His praise shall continually be in my mouth.     My soul shall make its boast in the Lord;   the humble shall hear of it and be glad!      Oh magnify the Lord with me, and let us exalt His name together!  I sought the Lord, and He heard me, and delivered me from all my fears.    They who look to Him are radiant, and their faces are not ashamed!"
              David spoke of the Lord, praised the Lord, and boasted in Him!  He testified of how God heard him when he sought him, and how he delivered him from all his fears!  Even David's very countenance was shining with the glory of the Lord, for David looked to Him for every need, gazed upon His beauty, and shone with His radiance!!   The whole book of Psalms is written to boast of the Lord, to magnify Him! 
         And then, and I love this,  David invites OTHERS  to join him in doing the same:  "Oh magnify the Lord WITH ME, and let us exalt His name TOGETHER!"    How much more can we glorify Him and make Him known, seen, when we join together to do it!    How much more joyous and wonderful when we sing His praise with many voices!   How much more we will change the world when MANY of us lay our lives down for each other,  testifying to His love and goodness in our lives TODAY!
         I'll start:  this is my reality-    my God is so good to me!   When I cry out to Him, He speaks to me and shows me that He is right here and how much He really loves me.  And  when my friend got cancer, and someone hurt my sister very badly, He has been my strength and my peace. Even when I've messed up royally or  'my day is crappy', I can honestly go on to say, "But my God..... "   As Phil Wickham says,  "I'm so unworthy, but still you love me!  Forever my heart will sing of how GREAT  You are!"
         And you?  Wherever you are today, wherever you go, may His praise be continually upon your lips.  Arm yourselves with stories of who God is and all He has done, in the good times and bad.  And when someone asks you how you are doing,  be ready to let them spill out!! 
         What we TALK about, we MAGNIFY.   The more we tell our stories of Him, the more others will see just how BIG He is!  He who created the universe is larger than we can even understand!   He who left heaven to come and be one of us and rescue us, offers us a love that is bigger than any fear or problem we face!  We have such GOOD NEWS to share!! 
        We talk about a lot of things throughout our days; the weather, the game last night, our latest frustrations.  What we talk about, we bring attention to;  we 'focus' on, we magnify. 
        O magnify the Lord with me!  Let us exalt HIS NAME together!  May His praise be continually on our lips!