Mrs. Grace's Windowsill

I remember the day I discovered the joy of playing with a prism & the power contained in a magnifying glass. I was sitting on the windowsill of our fifth grade classroom and chatting with friends. We were looking at Mrs. Grace’s plants and goofing around with the magnifying glasses and prisms. I was fascinated by the rainbows appearing on our notebook paper when we held a prism just so between our fingers and thumb. What an amazing thing, this ray of sunlight! I studied the spectrum, trying to figure out just where one color ended and another began. It was an impossible challenge. It was magnificent how one color faded into the next. Colors without beginning, without end.

A friend was playing with the magnifying glass. She was fascinated by the pinpoint of bright light that she could generate by steadily holding the magnifying glass in one position and letting the sunlight pass through the glass. As we watched and laughed at the wonders of science, her paper began to smoke, and the little spot of bright light turned brown. The paper was on fire.


Psalm 34:4 says “Magnify the LORD with me; let us exalt his name together.”


I get it. If you’ve ever played with rays of sunlight, you get it too. Our lives are the prism in the hand of God. A rainbow for all to see. Beautiful. Drawing the eyes of others toward God, causing their souls to marvel and wonder. 

Our souls are the magnifying glass in the hand of God. We lift our souls up, and Jesus Christ is magnified. Those who are fascinated by God’s glory now hold their breath in wonder, in awe.


The divine prism reveals our unique gifts, like the colors in the rainbow. The divine magnifying glass reveals God himself. Power. Majesty. The dominion of God the Almighty.


That day, on a windowsill in a fifth-grade classroom, a group of children were stunned into silence for just a moment. We had been fascinated by the rainbows. But when we realized the power of the sun, and what we could do with a little magnifying glass, we made no sound at all. This was a power too great. Something too important to misuse. We had discovered a mystery that went beyond beauty. We had discovered the sun, the power and mystery of light.


We looked at each other with big eyes and open mouths. And we quietly put the magnifying glasses away in a plastic box. We had uncovered a secret about the sun that demanded maturity, awe, respect.

Dear friends, we are God's magnifying glass.


Magnify the LORD with me; let us exalt his name together.

Mrs. Grace's Windowsill