Magnified

My wife left me. And, yes, it's tragic. Oh, no, she didn't leave me for good. She's tending to a family emergency in another state. So I'm a virtual bachelor for a couple of weeks.

For the most part that means little. I mean, I'm not being the stereotypical bachelor -- cruising bars, looking for chicks, "on the hunt", so to speak. I'm not changing habits, altering lifestyle, making new choices. Pretty much the same routine, except, of course, without the love of my life. That, of course, is for the most part. As you know, when only one person is in a house, only one person is responsible for all the stuff that needs to be done -- shopping, laundry, housecleaning, etc. My wife has been a "stay at home" wife for quite a few years now and she has always taken care of all that stuff. Now it's my task alone.

I'm very grateful for my wife. I'm very grateful all the time, in fact, but this is a new level of grateful. I've always been pleased with my wife and all that she does, but I'm delighted now that I realize (make real to me) all that that entails. I knew it was a lot before; now I know that by experience.

So?

Aren't we like that in Christ, in salvation? We come to Christ and we are grateful. All that grace and mercy is really, really good. And we're grateful. As we should be. But if you're like me, as you grow in Christ, you become more and more acutely ("acutelier" Naw!) aware of just what that entails. You become more aware of the depths of your sin, more conscious of His glory, and more astounded at the massive gap between my sinful self and His absolute perfection. It's not that we weren't grateful before, but the closer we get to the reality of it, the bigger it becomes.

I miss my wife, and I'm more grateful today than I was yesterday for all she does. I love my Savior, and I'm more grateful today than I was yesterday for His glory, love, grace, and mercy. They aren't getting larger; I'm just getting a better understanding, a greater appreciation ... of both my wife and my Savior. And, like a telescope that looks at that small white dot at night and shows it to be a massive, burning star, I find my wife and my Savior greatly magnified. Not bigger -- bigger to me.