The Magnifying Glass

 I have always been intrigued and fascinated by magnifying glasses.  I can spend hours exploring the hidden treasures emerging from magnification.  Magnifying glasses bring forth both beauty and ugliness in the ordinary around us.  My most recent adventures with the magnifying glass were this fall when a number of my kids had lice.    I sure spent a lot of time of with that magnifying glass in hand!  Last summer I took a magnifying glass down to the beach at low tide.  I was amazed at the life squirming that I had never before seen.  Even here at home in the most ordinary of places the magnifying glass brings forth new surprises.  I must say, though, I cannot sustain the high powered effort of looking through the magnifying glass indefinitely or I start to feel rather dizzy.  I have to frequently look up and view the larger picture to help keep my bearings.

Some seasons of our lives seem to be magnifying glass times.  We are confronted more clearly with both the joys and sorrows of our lives in these times.  The lens of our lives sharpens and  life is magnified and brought forth in new and surprising ways.  In these times we often feel more acutely.  Our feelings can be both wonderful and also very challenging to manage, especially when life is magnified.  This season of Christmas can often be a time of magnification. So can times of parenting, adopting and so many events in our lives. Both the joy and the sorrow are sharpened and enlarged in some times.  It can be overwhelming and difficult to cope.

I want to live a full life that does not shy away from the sharp heightening of experience and emotion that can be magnified in special times. It helps to acknowledge these magnifying times and to sometimes change the view through the lens.  I like the fact that my camera has a number of lens possibilities.  It has the magnifying macro lens, but I can also change to the more expansive wide angle or even to the distant telephoto lens.  I also need to practice changing my lens view of life especially in these full days.  I want to consciously move from the magnification to the expansive and even the longer life view.  Those magnified events have a larger context.  It is helpful to learn to shift to see the bigger picture.   In consciously shifting perspective I can enjoy both the magnificence and the full expanse of the specific times and events that are a part of the larger whole of our lives.  May we enjoy both the intensity and the wider view of the loaded and special times of our lives in our relationships, parenting, adoption and even Christmas this year.